# sic

Pronunciation: say "SIK" /sɪk/

## Adverb

1. Placed after quoted words to show they are copied exactly from the source, usually to flag an error or odd wording, sometimes to mock a claim.
   - Simple: Put after quoted words to show they were copied exactly, often to point out a mistake or a silly claim.
   - _The transcript preserved the witness's 'I seen [sic] him run' exactly as spoken._
   - _Quoting the old letter, she left 'untill [sic]' uncorrected to stay faithful to it._

## Verb

2. To urge a dog, or send a person or thing, to attack or go after someone or something; also, of a dog, to attack or chase.
   - Simple: To tell a dog, or send someone, to attack or go after someone. Also, of a dog, to attack.
   - _She sicced both German shepherds on the prowler lurking in the backyard._
   - _Ranchers sic their dogs on coyotes that threaten the herd._
3. To insert a bracketed [sic] following a quoted error, flagging that the mistake belongs to the original source.
   - Simple: To add a bracketed [sic] after a quoted mistake to show it came from the source.
   - _Editors sic the spelling errors so readers know the author wrote them that way._
   - _He sicced every grammatical slip in the transcribed interview._

## Noun

4. A marker placed in square brackets within quoted text to show that a mistake or oddity was reproduced exactly as it stood in the original.
   - Simple: A mark in square brackets in a quote, showing a mistake or something odd was copied exactly from the original.
   - _The editor inserted a sic after the senator's misspelling of Tennessee so readers wouldn't blame the paper._
   - _By the third paragraph, the quoted manifesto was littered with sics._

## Origin

**Meanings 1, 3–4** — Scholars took this word straight from Latin, where sīc means "thus, so."
**Meaning 2** — A variant form of the word "seek."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/sic (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).