"S" Word Origins

sickening

Origin

Formed from "sicken" plus the "-ing" ending.

sicker

Middle English

Inherited from Middle English siker, sikker, sykkere, secre, seccre, from Old English sēocra (“sicker”), equivalent to sick + -er.

sickhouse

Origin

From Middle English sykhous, sek hous (“hospital”, literally “the house for the sick”), equivalent to sick + house. Cognate with Dutch ziekenhuis (“hospital”), German Low German Süükhuus, Sükenhuus (“hospital”), Norwegian sykehus (“hospital”), German Siechhaus, Siechenhaus (“infirmary”), Danish sygehus (“hospital”), Swedish sjukhus (“hospital”), Icelandic sjúkrahús (“hospital”), West Frisian sikehûs (“hospital”). Compare also German Krankenhaus (“hospital”), Saterland Frisian Kroankenhuus (“hospital”), and Old English lǣċehūs (“hospital”).

sickle

Latin

From Old English sicol, ultimately borrowed from Latin sīcīlis ("sickle"). Distantly related to "scythe" and "saw".

sickly

Middle English

From Middle English sekely, built from "sick" plus "-ly".

sickness

Old English

From Old English seocnes, built from "sick" plus "-ness".

sicko

Origin

From "sick" plus the informal suffix "-o", which forms slangy nouns for a type of person (compare "weirdo").

sid

Origin

Shortened from sidiki or sidiqi.

sidal

Origin

From side + -al, in humorous reference to frontal. Used since at least the 1970s.

Siddhartha

Sanskrit

From Sanskrit siddha, "achieved," and artha, "goal."

side

Old English

From Old English sīde ("side, flank"), from a Germanic root related to Proto-Indo-European words for "long" or "lasting".

sidearm

Origin

A compound of "side" and "arm".

sidebar

Origin

A compound of "side" and "bar".

sideboard

Origin

A compound of "side" and "board".

sidebox

Origin

From side + box; compare sidebar.

sideburn

Origin

From side + burn.

sideburns

Origin

A reshuffling of "burnsides", named after the American Civil War general Ambrose Burnside, who was known for his distinctive facial hair.

sidecar

Origin

A compound of "side" and "car".

sidekick

Origin

From "side" plus old slang "kick", meaning a front trouser pocket — considered the safest place to keep valuables, so a "sidekick" was one's closest, most trusted companion.

sidelight

Origin

From side + light.

sideline

Origin

A compound of "side" and "line".

sideling

Origin

From Middle English sidlyng (early 14th century), from side + -lyng (modern English side + -ling).

sideload

Origin

From side + load, modelled on upload and download.

sidelong

Origin

1520s, from Middle English sidlyng (early 14th century), from side + -lyng (“(frequentative)”) (modern English -le (“(frequentative)”)). Reanalyzed as side + long.

sidely

Origin

From Middle English *sideli (adjective), sideli (adverb), equivalent to side + -ly. Cognate with German seitlich (“lateral”). Compare also sideling.

sideshow

Origin

A compound of "side" and "show".

sideslip

Origin

From side + slip.

sidesplitting

Origin

From side + splitting.

sideswipe

Origin

A compound of "side" and "swipe".

sidetrack

Origin

From side + track.

sidewalk

Origin

A compound of "side" and "walk".

sideways

Origin

From "side" plus the directional suffix "-ways".

sidewinder

Origin

From "side" plus "winder" (one that winds or moves in loops), describing the snake's sideways, looping way of crossing sand.

sidhe

Origin

From obsolete Irish sidhe (now spelled sí), "fairy mound", a sense found in English only in lowercase (sidhe); use to mean "fairies" or "a fairy", found in English in both lowercase and capitalized form, is from an ellipsis of Irish aos sidhe, now spelled aos sí, "people of the fairy mound".

Sidhu

Origin

Borrowed from Punjabi ਸਿੱਧੂ (siddhū).

siding

Origin

From "side" plus "-ing".

sidle

Origin

Likely a back-formation from the older adverb "sideling" ("in a sideways direction"), reshaped with the "-le" verb ending.

sidling

Origin

Cognate with the above (form of sidle, from Middle English sidlyng, from which also directly sidling, above).

sidney

Origin

From Old English *Sīdaneġ, the name of a place in Surrey, from sīd (“wide”) + eġ (“island”).

Sidonia

Origin

From Sidon + -ia (“of”).

sie

Origin

A coined gender-neutral pronoun modelled on the existing English pronouns "he" and "she".

Sieg

German

From Old High German sigu, "victory."

siege

Latin

From Old French sege/siege ("seat"), ultimately from Latin sēdēs ("seat") — the sense shifted from "a sitting down" to "an army settling in to blockade a place".

siegehouse

Origin

From siege (“seat, toilet seat”) + house.

Siegfried

German

From Old High German sigu, "victory," and fridu, "peace."

Siena

Italian

From Italian Siena.

sienna

Italian

From Italian terra di Siena ("earth of Siena"), named after the Italian city of Siena, historically a major source of the clay pigment.

Sierra

Spanish

From Spanish sierra, "mountain range," literally "saw."