ick

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See also: ICK and -ick

English

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ɪk/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪk

Etymology 1

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Interjection

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ick

  1. An exclamation of disgust
    Lizzie grabbed a frog out of the lake and put it in her hair! Ick!
    • 2014, Vicki Robin, Blessing the Hands That Feed Us: Lessons from a 10-Mile Diet:
      An aside for those who think “ick” about goat milk: If there are no billy goats around to arouse those sex hormones, goat milk does not taste “goat-y.
Synonyms
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Etymology 2

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Back-formation from icky.

Noun

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ick (plural not attested)

  1. (informal, uncountable) Something distasteful or physically unpleasant to touch.
    • 2011, J. Morgan, Southern Werewolf Chronicles Book Two: Were the Moon Don't Shine:
      Like it wasn't bad enough that I was soaked to the bone, now I had to lug an ick covered designer original across a puddle filled runway.
    • 2015, Chris Lynch, Killing Time in Crystal City, page 182:
      Did you get ick all over my things? Should I walk myself through a car wash on the way home?
  2. (informal) A feeling of revulsion.
    to have the ick
    • 1999 March 30, judy wieder, “Steve Kmetko's true hollywood story”, in The Advocate, page 36:
      And I was nodding, "Uh-huh," trying not to have an ick attack, worrying, Is my face giving something away?
    • 2017, Caragh M. O'Brien, The Keep of Ages, page 36:
      I wish none of this bothered me, but I feel this ick about Burnham and it isn't going away.
    • 2018, NJ Damschroder, Manifest Destiny:
      She'd woken up today with a general ick about doing this job, but every time she considered canceling and giving Hailey her money back, she couldn't do it.
    • 2022, Anna Williamson, Where is the Love?: The Honest Guide to Dating and Relationships:
      And as sad as that can be, we can't fake our feelings – if you've got the ick, you've got the ick.
    • 2024 March 12, J. Edward Moreno, quoting Kathryn D. Coduto, “Dating Apps Have Hit a Wall. Can They Turn Things Around?”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
      “People use dating apps, but I don’t know anyone who pays for it,” Ms. Wang said. In fact, she said that she would consider it an “ick” if she learned somebody was paying for a subscription.
  3. (slang) Anything moaned about; a gripe.
    • 1963, Thomas A. Erhard, The Electronovac Gasser: A Farce in Three Acts, page 45:
      How can you stand such an ick ?
    • 2009, Mary-Janice Davidson, Nina Bangs, Janelle Denison, Surf's Up:
      Of course, the idea of drinking blood is a total ick right now, but I suppose once you—
    • 2012, Doris Piserchia, The Dimensioneers:
      For the umpteenth time that day one of my fellow men regarded me with scorn. “You're so icky. Such an ick.”
    • 2013, Tara Taylor Quinn, It Happened on Maple Street:
      I keep thinking back to last Valentine's Day—I was such an ick—and you sent me that card.
    • 2022, Jamila Coleman, Surviving Seventeen… And The Years Leading Up To It, page 159:
      The thought of him and his obsessive begging for sex gave me a predatory vibe and was a total ick.

Adjective

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ick

  1. (informal) icky; distasteful or unpleasant.
    • 2012, Sue Moorcroft, Dream a Little Dream:
      'It's a bit ick, to be honest, but Rochelle thought it would be funny. Last year we did dragon's diarrhoea, with Tia Maria and chocolate Angel Delight, but nobody would touch it.'
    • 2015, Candy J Starr, Bad Boy Rock Star: The Complete Story:
      He thought she would be an embarrassment. That kind of made me feel a bit ick.
    • 2021, Jacqueline Firkins, How Not to Fall in Love, page 201:
      There's nothing “ick” about him, but I'm not sure how to say that without sounding like I'm reciting lines from that terrible bodice ripper I took on Theo's practice date.

Derived terms

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Etymology 3

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Noun

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ick (uncountable)

  1. Alternative form of ich (fish disease)

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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ick

  1. Alternative form of ik: I

German

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Low German ick/ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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ick (conjunctive)

  1. (regional, Berlin) I
    Ick liebe dir!
    I love you!
    Weeß ick nich. Keene Ahnung!
    I don’t know. Not a clue!

Usage notes

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  • Also used by Johann Christian Trömer alias Jean Chrêtien Toucement, who wrote in a mixture of French and German, like how a French would (mis-)pronounce German.[1]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Encyclopädie der deutschen Nationalliteratur oder biographisch-kritisches Lexicon der deutschen Dichter und Prosaisten seit den frühesten Zeiten; nebst Proben aus ihren Werken. Bearbeitet und herausgegeben von Dr. O. L. B. Wolff. Siebenter Band. Schmauss bis Z, 1842, p. 395, s.v. „Johann Christian Trömer“: „schrieb Tr. [= Trömmer] in einem Mischmasch von französisch und deutsch, wie es ungefähr ein Franzose sprechen würde“

Low German

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Alternative forms

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  • Ravensbergisch: eck, ek (used besides ick)
  • Münsterländisch: -k (enclitic; used besides ick)

Etymology

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From Middle Low German ik, from Old Saxon ik, from Proto-Germanic *ek, from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronunciation

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Pronoun

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ick

  1. I (first person singular pronoun)
    ick schreev di en Breef
    I wrote you a letter
    Ick keem, ick seeg, ick wunn
    I came, I saw, I conquered. (veni, vidi, vici, attributed to Julius Caesar.)

Declension

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In the dialect of Fritz Reuter:[1]

1st person 2nd person 3rd person
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Nominative ick du hei sei dat ('t)
Accusative mi di em ehr dat
Plural Nominative wi ji sei
Accusative uns jug (ju)
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  • mien (possessive: my, mine)
  • sick (reflexive, for the 3rd person)

Possessive pronouns in the dialect of Fritz Reuter:

1st person 2nd person 3rd person
Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular min din sin ehr sin
Plural uns' jug ehr

References

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  1. ^ Alfred v. d. Velde: Zu Fritz Reuter! Praktische Anleitung zum Verständniß des Plattdeutschen an der Hand des ersten Kapitels des Fritz Reuter'schen Romanes: „Ut mine Stromtid“. 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1881, p. 15

Middle English

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Pronoun

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ick

  1. Alternative form of I

North Frisian

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Pronoun

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ick

  1. Alternative form of ik