DictionaryRoot: illr
Old Norse

illr

evil, bad; difficult

1 / 1
A visibly unwell woman reclines in bed, flushed and heavy-eyed, holding a tissue to her reddened nose with a cooling cloth on her forehead.
adjective / adverb / noun

ill

IL/ɪl/

Bad or harmful in its condition or effect.

Etymology

Old Norse illr expressed general badness rather than sickness alone. The health sense probably developed through usage like the Norse idiom 'it is bad to me,' turning a bad condition into being unwell.

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