icky
adj/ˈɪki/
Etymology 1935, American English; from icky-boo (circa 1920): sickly, nauseated; baby talk corruption of sick; from a sentimental term for jazz music.
1
Informal Unpleasantly sticky; yucky; disgusting.
- I stepped in something icky and it smells terrible.
- Crew member Sachin Sharma of India said workers had no problems with being thrust into the icky job of handling the red bags filled with human waste.2013 February 15, Wayne Drash, “On crippled cruise ship, icky jobs fell to ‘amazing’ crew”, in CNN:
2
Informal Excessively sentimental.
3
Informal Unwell or upset; in a bad state of mind or health.
- I'm not going to work today. I just feel icky.
- Derived terms
- ickily, ickiness, icky-poo, sticky-icky
- Related terms
- ick