wicked
/ˈwɪk.ɪd/adjective, noun, verb
wicked is spelled W-I-C-K-E-D: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, wicked means “Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in wicked?
| Letters | 6: W-I-C-K-E-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 9.8 times per million words; the 7,224th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is wicked?
Wicked appears 9.8 times per million words in written English, the 7,224th 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 wicked?
- US /ˈwɪk.ɪd/
- /ˈwək.əd/
As an adjective (“Having a wick”): /wɪkt/, /wəkt/.
As an adjective (“Active; brisk”): /ˈwɪkɪd/.
Wicked has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-wicked.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-wicked_(wick).wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of wicked
- wickeder comparative
- more wicked comparative
- wickedest superlative
- most wicked superlative
- the wicked plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does wicked mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible.
Genuine cowards follow wicked people and cannot reliably sustain any virtue.
- 2
Harsh; severe.
wicked wind
- 3
slangExcellent; awesome; masterful; exceptional.
That was a wicked guitar solo, bro!
- 4
Having a wick.
a two-wicked lamp
- 5
UKobsoleteActive; brisk.
- 6
UKInfested with maggots.
- 7
Alternative form of wick, as applying to inanimate objects only.
noun
- 1
Wicked (evil) people collectively.
verb
- 1
simple past and past participle of wick
adverb
- 1
ScotlandarchaicslangTo a superlative extent, very, extremely
I didn't really wanna go see On Golden Pond with the fam, but my mom made me go, and I must say that in retrospect it was a wicked expressive film, with a lot of significant meaning.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Wicked in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | méchant , génial, sensass, super, mortel, chanmé |
| German | böse, sündhaft, schlecht, schlimm, bösartig, boshaft |
| Portuguese | mau, malvado, bárbaro , legal, da hora, muito louco |
| Spanish | malvado, avieso , muy |
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 wicked come from?
From Middle English wicked, wikked, an alteration of Middle English wicke, wikke (“morally perverse, evil, wicked”). Of uncertain origin. Possibly from an adjectival use of Old English wiċċa (“wizard, sorcerer”), from Proto-West Germanic *wikkō (“necromancer, sorcerer”), though the phonology makes this theory difficult to explain. Alternatively, perhaps related to English wicker, Old Norse víkja (“to bend to, yield, turn, move”), Swedish vika (“to bend, fold, give way to”), English weak.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).