# sickly

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈsɪkli/ · frequency rank #28,018

## Definitions
1. Frequently ill or in poor health; weakly.
2. Not in good health; (somewhat) sick.
3. Characterized by poor or unhealthy growth. (of a plant)
4. Appearing ill, infirm or unhealthy; giving the appearance of illness.
5. Shedding a relatively small amount of light; (of light) not very bright.
6. Lacking intensity or vigour.
7. Associated with poor moral or mental well-being.
8. Tending to produce nausea.
9. Overly sweet.
10. Marked by the occurrence of illness or disease (of a period of time).
11. Tending to produce disease or poor health.

## Etymology
From Middle English seekly, sekely, siklich, sekeliche, equivalent to sick + -ly. Possibly a modification of Old English sīcle (“sickly”) and/or derived from Old Norse sjúkligr (“sickly”). Cognate with Dutch ziekelijk, Middle High German siechlich, Danish sygelig, Swedish sjuklig, Icelandic sjúklegur. The verb is from the adjective.

## Easily confused with
- **silly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickly-vs-silly)
- **silky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickly-vs-silky)
- **sucky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickly-vs-sucky)
- **simply** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickly-vs-simply)
- **sticky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickly-vs-sticky)
- **singly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickly-vs-singly)
- **sick** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sick-vs-sickly)
- **scaly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scaly-vs-sickly)
- **Sicily** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sicily-vs-sickly)
- **sickle** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sickle-vs-sickly)
- **sicker** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sicker-vs-sickly)

## Common misspellings (10)
`isckly`, `scikly`, `sicckly`, `sickkly`, `sicklly`, `sicklyy`, `sickyl`, `siclky`, `sikcly`, `ssickly`

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