# sick man of Europe

> English word · Proper noun

## Definitions
1. The Ottoman Empire.
2. Any European country undergoing economic difficulty.

## Etymology
Calque of Russian больно́й челове́к Европы (bolʹnój čelovék Jevropy), a phrase coined by Czar Nicholas I of the Empire of Russia, referring to the poor state of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/sick-man-of-europe