sickening
sick·en·ing/ˈsɪk(ə)nɪŋ/adjective, noun, verb
sickening is spelled S-I-C-K-E-N-I-N-G: 9 letters and 3 syllables (sick·en·ing). It appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, sickening means “Causing sickness or disgust” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in sickening?
| Letters | 9: S-I-C-K-E-N-I-N-G |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: sick·en·ing |
| In writing | 2.0 times per million words; the 19,336th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is sickening?
Sickening appears 2.0 times per million words in written English, the 19,336th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sickening?
- /ˈsɪk(ə)nɪŋ/
Sickening has 3 syllables, split sick·en·ing in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-sickening.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of sickening
- more sickening comparative
- most sickening superlative
- sickenings plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sickening mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Causing sickness or disgust.
sickening cruelty
- 2
Amazing, fantastic.
noun
- 1
The act of making somebody sick.
verb
- 1
present participle and gerund of sicken
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sickening in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense causing sickness or disgust:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | dégoûtant, écœurant |
| German | ekelhaft, widerlich, abscheulich, ekelerregend, unerträglich, widerwärtig |
| Spanish | asqueante, estomagante, repugnante |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sickening come from?
By surface analysis, sicken + -ing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).