sicko

[ sik-oh ]

noun

, Slang.

, plural sick·os.

1. sickie ( def 1 ).

sicko

/ ˈsɪkəʊ /

noun

1. a person who is mentally disturbed or perverted

adjective

1. perverted or in bad taste

   sicko prurience

Word History and Origins

Origin of sicko¹

sick ¹ + -o

Word History and Origins

Origin of sicko¹

C20: from sick ¹(sense 5) + -o

Example Sentences

The “Sicko Mode” rapper, 33, whose legal name is Jacques Bermon Webster, had been charged with trespassing and disorderly intoxication and spent the night in a Miami jail after he was arrested at the Miami Beach Marina.

From Los Angeles Times

She was labeled a “sicko, pig, trash,” she writes in the memoir.

From Los Angeles Times

The “Sicko Mode” emcee, whose legal name is Jacques Bermon Webster, was detained after Paris police were called to the hotel soon after 5 a.m. to arrest a man “nicknamed Travis Scott for violence against a security guard,” the Paris public prosecutor’s office said in a statement to The Times.

From Los Angeles Times

Kari Lake, a Republican Senate candidate in Arizona, wrote in her own X post: “The sicko Biden FBI were ready to use deadly force during the Mar-a-Lago BS raid. That tells you everything you need to know about this criminal Biden admin.”

From Seattle Times

Kari Lake, a Republican Senate candidate in Arizona, wrote in her own X post: “The sicko Biden FBI were ready to use deadly force during the Mar-a-Lago BS raid. That tells you everything you need to know about this criminal Biden admin.”

From Seattle Times

About This Word

What does sicko mean?

Sicko is a slang word for someone considered deranged, sadistic, perverted, disturbed, or the like.

Where did sicko come from?

Sicko is based on sick, which has described someone as “perverted” or “repugnant” since Old English. It features the suffix -o, used in other such insulting slang terms for people as weirdo, wino, and pinko. The term was recorded in 1977, preceded by sickie and sicknik.

In 2007, Michael Moore released his documentary, Sicko, about problems with the U.S. healthcare system. Elsewhere in politics, sicko has also become a popular way for some armchair critics to characterize Donald Trump since his election in 2016, although Trump himself notably called the February 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooter a sicko.

In 2018, rapper Travis Scott gave sicko a massive signal boost with his Billboard #1 single “Sicko Mode,” where featured rapper Drake says Scott is in “sicko mode.” That’s a slang way of saying he’s at the top of his game. Sicko, here, seems to be behaving like the slang sense of sick for “extremely good.”

Who uses sicko?

Sicko is a common and forceful insult for someone considered morally or mentally disturbed, from silly memes to condemnatory tabloid tweets. Sicko can be used earnestly or ironically.

What kind of depraved sicko abandons an innocent loaf of bread like this pic.twitter.com/E0UGu782vW

— Chalbs™ (@Aetherfl0w) February 27, 2018

Using sicko for someone with mental health issues, however, stigmatizes mental illness and is considered offensive.

More examples of sicko:

“Some sicko decides to send explosives to Democratic lightning rods such as Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton and an empty vessel like Somerville mayor Joe Curtatone, seeing a chance for a cheap headline, leaps to the conclusion Diehl and his supporters bear some responsibility.”
—Joe Fitzgerald, Boston Herald, October 2018

Note

This content is not meant to be a formal definition of this term. Rather, it is an informal summary that seeks to provide supplemental information and context important to know or keep in mind about the term’s history, meaning, and usage.