Etymograph

English

wickedly

Wickedly comes from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to sift, separate’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-1‘to sift, separate’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wyckedly1
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1886wickedly1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English wickedly
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, Folk and Fairy Tales: “[T]he sedate monk's hood lifted its head still higher…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*weyk-Wiktionary, English wickedly‘to sift, separate’root named by Wiktionary · steps between not traced
  2. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500wyckedlyWiktionary, English wickedly
  3. Englishearliest quotation 1886wickedlyWiktionary, English wickedly. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjø￵rnsen, Folk and Fairy Tales: “[T]he sedate monk's hood lifted its head still higher…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *weyk- ‘to sift, separate’

victory, province, victim, convince, weakness, conviction, victor, icon, witch, wo, invincible, convict, eviction, vicar, wight, weakly, evict, vanquish, ancona, waw, wile, 33 more

Today it means

adv In a wicked manner.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “wickedly”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *weyk- / wickedly

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