noun🔥 Gen-Z slang
ick
a sudden turn-off about someone
What it means
A sudden, often irrational wave of disgust or turn-off toward someone you were attracted to, triggered by a small habit or moment. Once you 'catch the ick,' the attraction is usually hard to recover.
Words like “ick” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.
Examples
- He chased the bus and I instantly caught the ick.
- Watching him struggle to parallel park gave me the ick.
- The way he says 'no worries' gives me the ick.
- She got the ick the moment he tripped on the curb.
Where it comes from
The interjection 'ick' for disgust is old, but the dating-specific 'the ick' surged around 2020, popularized by the UK show 'Love Island' and then countless TikToks listing oddly specific turn-offs.
Related slang
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