Meanings
plural sickhouses
- A place where sick or injured people are cared for; a hospital.
Four months after giving birth to a daughter, Peggy returned to the sickhouse with a "rising breast," […]
2002, Sharla M. Fett, Working cures2 more examples
The sickhouse was a cool, capacious, and convenient building, well adapted to the purpose for which it was used.
1830, Frederic William Naylor Bayley, Four years' residence in the West IndiesWhat was still called the new sickhouse, where people were taken to be tended if their illness was contagious, […]
1993, Robert Jordan, The shadow risingSynonyms: infirmary
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA place where sick or injured people are cared for; a hospital.
Origin
- Middle Englishsykhous
- Englishsickhouse
From Middle English sykhous, sek hous (“hospital”, literally “the house for the sick”), equivalent to sick + house. Cognate with Dutch ziekenhuis (“hospital”), German Low German Süükhuus, Sükenhuus (“hospital”), Norwegian sykehus (“hospital”), German Siechhaus, Siechenhaus (“infirmary”), Danish sygehus (“hospital”), Swedish sjukhus (“hospital”), Icelandic sjúkrahús (“hospital”), West Frisian sikehûs (“hospital”). Compare also German Krankenhaus (“hospital”), Saterland Frisian Kroankenhuus (“hospital”), and Old English lǣċehūs (“hospital”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
sickhouse. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sickhouse
“sickhouse.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sickhouse. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “sickhouse,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/sickhouse.
Source: sickhouse on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.