Street voices
Courtney Sintoni
·
United States
"Wicked I've seen used up north primarily and it is a word used for emphasis like you would use very or really. For example, I'm wicked tired. Can you hurry up?"
What it means
A punchy bit of praise for something excellent, impressive, or just properly good. In UK chat especially, you can slap it on a night out, a tune, a goal, a jacket, whatever's hitting right. It still carries a tiny mischievous spark from the original bad meaning, which is exactly why it lands so nicely.
Usage examples
"You coming Friday? The new place in Soho is wicked, decent tunes, cheap-ish pints, and the bouncer actually let us in for once."
"The new exhibition at the Tate Modern is wicked, I went on Saturday afternoon and ended up staying past closing, the staff had to gently move me along to the exit."
"Wicked save by the goalkeeper just before half time, the whole stand was on its feet, even the bloke who had been moaning since kick-off finally cracked a proper smile."
"That set was wicked, mate, whole place was bouncing and even Dave stopped pretending he's too cool to dance."
"You got the tickets? Wicked, I thought we'd left it too late and completely bottled it."
Where it comes from
Originally, wicked meant evil or morally wrong in standard English. Its positive slang life grew through late 20th century youth speech, especially in the UK, where edgy words got flipped into compliments. By the 1980s and 1990s, calling something wicked was fully locked in as a lively bit of praise.
