illness
/ˈɪlnəs/
noun
Origin
Old Norse
illr — bad, evil, sick
Overview
Meaning Now
- A state of being unhealthy or sick; a specific disease or medical condition.
- A general lack of physical or mental well-being.
Language path
Old Norse → Middle English → English
Earliest form
illnesse
Earliest period
14th century
Journey
The term originates from the Old Norse 'illr', which originally meant 'bad' or 'wicked'. In Middle English, the sense of 'ill' shifted to include physical infirmity, gradually displacing older native English terms like 'sickness' (from 'sick', derived from Old English 'seoc').
Evolution
- Old Norse
illr
“bad, evil”
- Middle English
ill
“bad, wicked, sick”
Adoption of the Norse term into Middle English.
- Middle English
illnesse
“sickness, state of being ill”
Addition of the abstract noun suffix -ness.
- Modern English
illness
“state of being unhealthy”
Connections
Word parts
ill
root
bad, sick
-ness
suffix
state or condition of being
Related across languages
Old Swedish
iller
bad
Danish
ild
bad
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Related to illness
External references use DefinedTerm semantics.