different between odd vs sick

English

Etymology

From Middle English od, odde (“odd (not even); leftover after division into pairs”), from Old Norse oddi (“odd, third or additional number; triangle”), from oddr (“point of a weapon”), from Proto-Germanic *uzdaz (“point”), from Proto-Indo-European *wes- (“to stick, prick, pierce, sting”) + Proto-Indo-European *d?eh?- (“to set, place”). Cognate to Icelandic oddi (“triangle, point of land, odd number”), Swedish udda (“odd”), udd (“a point”), Norwegian Bokmål odde (“a point”, “odd”, “peculiar”); related to Old English ord (“a point”). Doublet of ord ("point").

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?d
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d/
• Rhymes: -?d
• Homophone: awed (in accents with the cot-caught merger)

Adjective

odd (not generally comparable, comparative odder, superlative oddest)

1. Differing from what is usual, ordinary or expected.

   Synonyms: unusual, strange; see also Thesaurus:strange

   Antonyms: common, familiar, mediocre; see also Thesaurus:common

   1. Peculiar, singular and strange in looks or character; eccentric, bizarre.
      • 2003, Kenneth Rubin, Andrea Thompson, The Friendship Factor, Penguin (?ISBN):

        [One of them would] say, 'Hi, Mother.' This might be Chrissie with the purple hair and black lipstick, or Adam, who usually wore odd leather stuff. Sometimes 'Hi' was all I heard; other times they'd stay and talk for a minute.

2. (not comparable) Without a corresponding mate in a pair or set; unmatched; (of a pair or set) mismatched.

   Synonyms: single, mismatched

   My cat Fluffy has odd eyes: one blue and one brown.

3. (not comparable) Left over, remaining after the rest have been paired or grouped.

4. (not comparable) Left over or remaining (as a small amount) after counting, payment, etc.
   • 2009, Sam O'Connor, Tales of Old Las Vegas: Inside are a Few Stories Set in the 60's, where There was More to the Action Than the Games, AuthorHouse (?ISBN), page 187:

     "Here, I have some odd change that should make things easier." As Tish turned and reached for the cigarettes, Eric took some loose coins from his pocket and placed the change from the twenty into his other pocket.

   • 2010, Chris Thomas, The Rockefeller Fraud, Xulon Press (?ISBN), page 24:

     Third was my college loan of five thousand dollars and some odd change.

5. (not comparable) Scattered; occasional, infrequent; not forming part of a set or pattern.

   I don't speak Latin well, so in hearing a dissertation in Latin, I would only be able to make out the odd word of it.

   • 1998, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Ronald Hingley, Five Plays, Oxford University Press, USA (?ISBN), page 148:

     There are odd bits of green here and there in patches, but no continuous stretches. The elk, swans and woodgrouse are no more. The old hamlets, farmsteads, hermitages and mills have vanished without trace.

6. (not comparable) Not regular or planned.

7. (not comparable) Used or employed for odd jobs.
   • 1879, Journal of Horticulture and Practical Gardening, page 262:

     The odd horse will now be employed in carting couch grass on to pasture land, carting hay, &c, to sheep in the field, carting roots, straw, &c, for feeding cattle in the boxes or dairy cows in the stalls or yards, and in various odd jobs on the farm  ...

   • 1894, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons, Sessional papers. Inventory control record 1, page 57:

     At about 14 he rises a step by getting the 'odd' horse and cart, and does all the small carting work about the farm.
8. (mathematics, not comparable) Numerically indivisible by two.

   Antonym: even
9. (not comparable) Numbered with an odd number.

10. (not comparable, in combination with a number) About, approximately; somewhat more than (an approximated round number).

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:about, Thesaurus:approximately

11. Out of the way, secluded.
    • 1958, Henry Miller, The Colossus of Maroussi, New Directions Publishing (?ISBN), page 218:

      "Well, isn't it a bit unusual to run into an old friend in an odd corner of the world like this?" I asked.

    • 2015, Karen Newcomb, The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden: Grow Tons of Organic Vegetables in Tiny Spaces and Containers, Ten Speed Press (?ISBN):

      Plant a clump in your postage stamp garden, or stuff them in an odd corner of a flower bed. (They prefer full sun but will tolerate filtered shade.)

12. (sports) On the left.

    He served from the odd court.

13. (obsolete) Singular in excellence; matchless; peerless; outstanding. [since the 1400s]
    • 1886, Walter William Skeat, The Wars of Alexander: An Alliterative Romance Translated Chiefly from the Historia Alexandri Magni de Preliis, page 120, in (modern English) notes about the Middle English text:

      He goes to Phrygia, and sees Scamander. "Happy are all," he says, "who are honoured by that odd clerk. Homer." In Macedonia, he finds hie mother.

    • 1815, Walter Scott, Guy Mannering – or The Astrologer:

      I assure you, if I were Hazlewood I should look on his compliments, his bowings, his cloakings, his shawlings, and his handings with some little suspicion; and truly I think Hazlewood does so too at some odd times.

Derived terms

Related terms

• ord
• odds and ends

Translations

Noun

odd (plural odds)

1. (mathematics, diminutive) An odd number.

   So let's see. There are two evens here and three odds.

2. (colloquial) Something left over, not forming part of a set.

   I've got three complete sets of these trading cards for sale, plus a few dozen odds.

Translations

See also

• Odd Rode

Further reading

• Odd in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• odd at OneLook Dictionary Search
• odd in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• DDO, DOD, DoD, dod

Icelandic

Noun

odd

1. indefinite accusative singular of oddur

Middle English

Adjective

odd

1. Alternative form of od

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: s?k, IPA^(key): /s?k/
• Rhymes: -?k
• Homophones: sic, Sikh

Etymology 1

From Middle English sik, sike, seek, seke, seok, from Old English s?oc (“sick, ill”), from Proto-West Germanic *seuk, from Proto-Germanic *seukaz (compare West Frisian siik, Dutch ziek, German siech, Norwegian Bokmål syk, Norwegian Nynorsk sjuk), from Proto-Indo-European *sewg- (“to be troubled or grieved”); compare Middle Irish socht (“silence, depression”), Old Armenian ???????? (hiwcanim, “I am weakening”).

Adjective

sick (comparative sicker, superlative sickest)

1. (more common in the US) In poor health; ill.

   Synonyms: ill, not well, poorly, sickly, unwell

   Antonyms: fit, healthy, well

2. Having an urge to vomit.

   Synonym: nauseated

   • 1913, The Texas criminal reports, page 8:

     In the meantime the old man had gotten up and gone out in the yard and began to vomit. Henry said I believe I feel sick and got up and went out. He went out one door and his father went out the other one. I did not think there was anything wrong with the coffee and I asked my wife to pour this out […]

   • 1918, Cecil Day Lewis, The Whispering Roots, Jonathan Cape, page 140:

     Q. Didn't he complain he was sick before he commenced to vomit?

     A. He did, just before he said, to me, “I feel sick,” I asked him if he wanted to throw up and he said yes.

   • 1958, Gene D'Olive, Chiara, Signet Book

     […] trying hard to cry. Crying's good. Crying teaches him to breathe. But I wish he weren't crying from hunger. I feel dizzy. I sit down and feel a little sick. Maybe I'll vomit, too. No, I never vomit. I feel sick, but I won't vomit. I never vomit.

   • 2013, Cheryl Rainfield, Stained, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (?ISBN), page 38:

     I feel sick, like I might vomit, and I'm more tired than I can ever remember feeling.

3. (colloquial) Mentally unstable, disturbed.

   Synonyms: disturbed, twisted, warped

4. (colloquial) In bad taste.

5. Tired of or annoyed by something.
6. (slang) Very good, excellent, awesome, badass.

   Synonyms: rad, wicked

   Antonyms: crap, naff, uncool

7. In poor condition.

8. (agriculture) Failing to sustain adequate harvests of crop, usually specified.

Synonyms

• (in poor health): See also Thesaurus:diseased
• (having an urge to vomit): See also Thesaurus:nauseated
• (slang: excellent): See also Thesaurus:excellent

Derived terms

Descendants

• ?? Navajo: sxih

Translations

Noun

sick (uncountable)

1. (Britain, Australia, colloquial) Vomit.
2. (Britain, colloquial) (especially in the phrases on the sick and on long-term sick) Any of various current or former benefits or allowances paid by the Government to support the sick, disabled or incapacitated

Synonyms

• (vomit): See Thesaurus:vomit

Translations

Verb

sick (third-person singular simple present sicks, present participle sicking, simple past and past participle sicked)

1. (colloquial) To vomit.

2. (obsolete, intransitive) To fall sick; to sicken.
   • circa 1598, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, part 2:

     Our great-grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died.

Etymology 2

Variant of sic, itself an alteration of seek.

Verb

sick (third-person singular simple present sicks, present participle sicking, simple past and past participle sicked)

1. (rare) Alternative spelling of sic
   • 1920, James Oliver Curwood, "Back to God's Country"

     "Wapi," she almost screamed, "go back! Sick 'em, Wapi—sick 'em—sick 'em—sick 'em!"

   • 1938, Eugene Gay-Tifft, translator, The Saga of Frank Dover by Johannes Buchholtz, 2005 Kessinger Publishing edition, ?ISBN, page 125,

     When we were at work swabbing the deck, necessarily barelegged, Pelle would sick the dog on us; and it was an endless source of pleasure to him when the dog succeeded in fastening its teeth in our legs and making the blood run down our ankles.

   • 1957, J. D. Salinger, "Zooey", in, 1961, Franny and Zooey, 1991 LB Books edition, page 154,

     "...is just something God sicks on people who have the gall to accuse Him of having created an ugly world."

   • 2001 (publication date), Anna Heilman, Never Far Away: The Auschwitz Chronicles of Anna Heilman, University of Calgary Press, ?ISBN, page 82,

     Now they find a new entertainment: they sick the dog on us.

Anagrams

• CKIs