🤒 Looking unwell 📈 With sharp peaks

peaky

2 5.5

Pale and looking ill

adjective
/ˈpiːki/

: pálido

He seems to have come down with something; he looks peaky and tired.
look peaky

Examples

I confess, I feel peaky.

A Field in England (2013)
You're looking a bit peaky.

A Taste of Honey (1961)
She does look a little peaky.

Fiction book (1991)
After staying up late, you look quite peaky this morning.
She has been unwell lately and always looks a bit peaky when I see her.

Synonyms

sickly

vspeaky

31 2.6

Often ill and looking weak or pale

is a temporary pale unwell appearance rather than long term illness

haggard

vspeaky

10 7.0

Looking very tired and pale from worry, illness, or lack of food

is paler or unwell but with less extreme exhaustion

peaked

vspeaky

7 7.2

Looking pale and weak, as if unwell

is paler and unwell but less severe or imminent

wan

vspeaky

3 7.4

Pale in the face and looking sick or unhappy

is mainly about physical sickness or tiredness rather than mood

careworn

vspeaky

1 7.7

Having a tired, worried face after a long time of worry or too much work

is paler and unwell due to sickness or tiredness rather than worry

green about the gills

vspeaky

Informal

1 8.8

Looking pale and sick, often feeling like you will vomit

is paler from general sickness or tiredness not only nausea

Antonyms

healthy

800 1.0

In good body and mind condition without sickness or injury

vibrant

93 4.1

Full of energy and activity that makes people feel excited

How Unwell

gaunt

15 7.3

sickly

31 2.6

peaky

2 5.5

wan

3 7.4

pale

301 1.0

Surface Forms

peaky positive

Morphology

peaky = peak (opaque) = peak + y

Although formally 'peak' + '-y', the idiomatic meaning 'pale or unwell' is not derivable from the meaning of 'peak' for most learners.

Etymology

The word peaky comes from an older use of peak that meant 'to be weak or sick', so a peaky person looks pale, tired, or unwell.