alcoholic

See also: alcohòlic and alco-holic

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Middle English alcofol

English alcohol

Proto-Italic *-kos

Latin -cus

Latin -icuslbor.

Old French -iquebor.

Middle English -ik

English -ic

English alcoholic

First attested 1891, from alcohol +‎ -ic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌæl.kəˈhɒl.ɪk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌæl.kəˈhɔ.lɪk/
• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ˌæl.kəˈhɑ.lɪk/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒlɪk

Noun

alcoholic (plural alcoholics)

1. A person who is addicted to alcohol.
   • 2001, Starsailor, Alcoholic:

     Don't you know you've got your daddy's eyes
     Daddy was an alcoholic

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic who still resists the idea that something drastic needs to happen for him to turn his life around.

2. One who abuses alcohol.

Synonyms

• (person addicted to alcohol): See also Thesaurus:drunkard

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “person addicted to alcohol”): teetotaler, on the wagon; See also Thesaurus:teetotaler

Translations

a person addicted to alcohol

Arabic: سِكِّير m (sikkīr), سِكِّيرَة f (sikkīra) Armenian: ալկոհոլիկ (hy) (alkoholik), (colloquial, derogatory) ալկաշ (alkaš) Azerbaijani: alkoqolik Belarusian: алкаго́лік m (alkahólik), алкагалі́чка f (alkahalíčka) Bulgarian: алкохо́лик (bg) m (alkohólik), алкохо́личка f (alkohólička) Catalan: alcohòlic (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 酒精成癮者 / 酒精成瘾者 (jiǔjīngchéngyǐnzhě) Czech: alkoholik (cs) m, alkoholička (cs) f Danish: alkoholiker (da) Dutch: alcoholist (nl) m, alcoholiste (nl) f, alcoholicus (nl) m Esperanto: alkoholulo Estonian: alkohoolik, joodik Finnish: alkoholisti (fi) French: alcoolique (fr) m or f Galician: alcohólico (gl) m Georgian: ალკოჰოლიკი (alḳoholiḳi) German: Alkoholiker (de) m, Alkoholikerin (de) f, Alkoholkranker (de) m, Alkoholkranke (de) f, Alkoholsüchtiger m Greek: αλκοολικός (el) m (alkoolikós), αλκοολική (el) f (alkoolikí) Hindi: पियक्कड़ (hi) m (piyakkaṛ), शराबी (hi) m (śarābī) Hungarian: alkoholista (hu) Indonesian: alkoholik Irish: alcólach m Italian: alcoldipendente (it), alcolista (it), alcoolizzato (it) m Japanese: アルコール中毒者 (アルコールちゅうどくしゃ, arukōru-chūdokusha) Kazakh: араққор (araqqor), араққұмар (araqqūmar) Khmer: អ្នកមានរោគស្រា (nĕək miən rook sraa), សុរាសោណ្ឌ (soraa saon), មនុស្សឱបឪទឹន (mɔnuh ʼaop ʼəwtɨn), សុរាបានក (soraa baa nɔɔ kɑɑ) Kyrgyz: алкоголик (ky) (alkogolik) Latvian: alkoholiķis m, alkoholiķe f Lithuanian: alkoholikas m, alkoholikė f Macedonian: алкохоличар m (alkoholičar), алкохоличарка f (alkoholičarka) Malay: kaki botol (ms) Manx: sheer-veshtallagh m Maori: kaiwara waipiro, kiriwara waipiro Mongolian: Cyrillic: please add this translation if you can Norwegian: Bokmål: alkoholiker (no) m Nynorsk: alkoholikar m Odia: ମଦୁଆ (or) (maduā) Persian: الکلی (fa) (alkoli) Polish: alkoholik (pl) m, alkoholiczka (pl) f Portuguese: alcoólatra (pt) m or f, alcoólico (pt) m Romanian: alcoolic (ro) m, alcoolică (ro) f Russian: алкого́лик (ru) m (alkogólik), алкоголи́чка (ru) f (alkogolíčka) (the female form is colloquial), алка́ш (ru) m (alkáš) (slang, derogatory) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: алкохо̀лича̄р m Roman: alkohòličār (sh) m Slovak: alkoholik m, alkoholička f Slovene: alkoholik m, alkoholičarka f Spanish: alcohólico (es) m, escabiador m (Latin America, slang) Swedish: alkoholist (sv) c, (colloquial) alkis (sv) c, (colloquial) fyllo (sv) n, (colloquial) suput (sv) c, fyllerist (sv) c, (dated) drinkare (sv) c Tajik: майзада (tg) (mayzada) Telugu: తాగుబోతు (te) (tāgubōtu) Thai: ขี้เหล้า (kîi-lâo), ขี้เมา (th) (kîi-mao), นักเลงสุรา (nák-leeng-sù-raa) Turkish: alkolik (tr), ayyaş (tr), içkici (tr), küplü (tr) (slang), sünger (tr) Ukrainian: алкого́лік (uk) m (alkohólik), алкого́лічка (uk) f (alkohólička), алкоголі́чка (uk) f (alkoholíčka) Uzbek: alkogolik (uz) Vietnamese: người nghiện rượu

one who abuses alcohol

Arabic: سِكِّير m (sikkīr), خِمِّير m (ḵimmīr), مُعَاقِر m (muʕāqir) Armenian: ալկոհոլիկ (hy) (alkoholik), (colloquial, derogatory) ալկաշ (alkaš) Belarusian: п'я́ніца m or f (pʺjánica), прапо́йца m or f (prapójca) Bulgarian: алкохо́лик (bg) m (alkohólik), алкохо́личка f (alkohólička), пия́ница (bg) m or f (pijánica) Catalan: alcohòlic (ca) m Chinese: Mandarin: 酗酒者 (xùjiǔzhě), 嗜酒者 (shìjiǔzhě), 酗酒成性者 (xùjiǔchéngxìngzhě), 酒鬼 (zh) (jiǔguǐ) Czech: alkoholik (cs) m, alkoholička (cs) f, opilec (cs) m, opilkyně f, pijan (cs) m, pijanka (cs) f Danish: alkoholiker (da) Estonian: alkohoolik, joodik Finnish: alkoholisti (fi), juoppo (fi) French: alcoolique (fr) m or f Galician: alcohólico (gl) m, alcohólica f German: Alkoholiker (de) m, Alkoholikerin (de) f, Alkoholkranker (de) m, Alkoholkranke (de) f Greek: αλκοολικός (el) m (alkoolikós), αλκοολική (el) f (alkoolikí) Irish: alcólach m Italian: alcolista (it), alcolizzato (it) m Japanese: 小虎 (こどら, kodora), 辛党 (ja) (からとう, karatō), 飲兵衛 (ja) (のんべえ, nonbē), アル中 (ja) (アルちゅう, aru-chū), 飲んだくれ (ja) (のんだくれ, nondakure), 愛飲家 (あいいんか, aiinka), 酒飲み (ja) (さけのみ, sakenomi) Kazakh: араққор (araqqor), араққұмар (araqqūmar) Khmer: សុរាសោណ្ឌ (soraa saon) Korean: 술고래 (sulgorae), 대주가(大酒家) (daejuga), 주보(酒甫) (jubo) Latvian: alkoholiķis m Macedonian: алкохоличар m (alkoholičar), алкохоличарка f (alkoholičarka), пијаница m or f (pijanica) Malay: kaki botol (ms) Manx: sheer-veshtallagh m Polish: alkoholik (pl) m, alkoholiczka (pl) f Portuguese: alcoólatra (pt) m or f Russian: алкого́лик (ru) m (alkogólik), алкоголи́чка (ru) f (alkogolíčka) (the female form is colloquial), пья́ница (ru) m or f (pʹjánica), (pejorative) алка́ш (ru) m (alkáš), пропо́йца (ru) m or f (propójca), пьянчу́га (ru) m or f (pʹjančúga), выпиво́ха (ru) m or f (vypivóxa) Slovak: pijan m, pijanka f Slovene: pijanec (sl) m, pijanka f Spanish: alcohólico (es) m, escabiador m (Latin America, slang), alcoholista m or f (Latin America) Swedish: alkoholist (sv) c Turkish: alkolik (tr), ayyaş (tr), içkici (tr) Ukrainian: пия́ка m or f (pyjáka), п'яни́ця m or f (pʺjanýcja), пите́ць m (pytécʹ), випива́ка m or f (vypyváka), п'янчу́га m or f (pʺjančúha)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Persian: (please verify) الکلی (fa) (alkoli) Telugu: (please verify) తాగుబోతు (te) (tāgubōtu)

See also

• friend of Bill W.

Adjective

alcoholic (comparative more alcoholic, superlative most alcoholic)

1. Of or pertaining to alcohol.
2. Having more than a trace amount of alcohol in its contents.

   He ordered an alcoholic beverage.

   The oysters were sour, and excessively alcoholic.

   • 2024 November 27, Jessie Yeung and Isaac Yee, “Laos detains foreign hostel staff over backpacker methanol poisonings as families and travelers demand answers”, in CNN‎:

     A statement from the official Lao News Agency (KPL) Friday reported that “the consumption of tainted alcoholic beverages” was the suspected cause of the deaths.

3. Of, pertaining to, or affected by alcoholism.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:alcoholic

Antonyms

• nonalcoholic

Derived terms

• alcoholically
• alcoholic beverage
• alcoholic encephalopathy
• alcoholicity
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• aminoalcoholic
• antialcoholic
• anti-alcoholic
• hydroalcoholic
• non-alcoholic
• nonalcoholic
• prealcoholic
• unalcoholic
• workalcoholic

Related terms

• alcohol

Translations

of or pertaining to alcohol

Arabic: رُوحِيّ (rūḥiyy), كُحُولِيّ (kuḥūliyy) Armenian: ալկոհոլային (hy) (alkoholayin) Asturian: alcohólicu Bulgarian: алкохолен (alkoholen) Catalan: alcohòlic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 酒精性 (zh) Dutch: alcoholisch (nl) Estonian: alkoholi- Finnish: alkoholi- French: alcoolique (fr) Galician: alcohólico (gl) Greek: αλκοολικός (el) m (alkoolikós) Hindi: मादक (hi) (mādak) Hungarian: alkohol- (hu) Indonesian: alkoholik Italian: alcolico (it) Japanese: アルコール入りの (arukōru-iri-no) Latvian: alkoholisks Macedonian: алкохо́лен (alkohólen) Norman: alcoolique Polish: alkoholowy (pl) Portuguese: alcoólico (pt) Romanian: alcoolic (ro) Russian: алкого́льный (ru) (alkogólʹnyj) Serbo-Croatian: alkoholni (sh) Spanish: alcohólico (es) Swedish: alkohol- Welsh: alcoholig, alcoholaidd

having more than a trace amount of alcohol in its contents

Armenian: ալկոհոլային (hy) (alkoholayin) Asturian: alcohólicu Bulgarian: спиртен (spirten), алкохолен (alkoholen) Catalan: alcohòlic (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Czech: alkoholický (cs) m Estonian: alkohoolne Finnish: alkoholipitoinen (fi) French: alcoolisé (fr) Galician: alcohólico (gl) German: alkoholisch (de), alkoholhaltig (de) Greek: αλκοολικός (el) m (alkoolikós) Hindi: मादक (hi) (mādak) Hungarian: alkoholos (hu) Interlingua: alcoholic Italian: alcolico (it) Latvian: alkoholisks Macedonian: алкохо́лен (alkohólen) Malay: beralkohol Norwegian: Bokmål: alkoholholdig (no) Portuguese: alcoólico (pt) Romanian: alcoolic (ro) Russian: алкого́льный (ru) (alkogólʹnyj) Serbo-Croatian: alkoholni (sh) Slovak: alkoholický m Spanish: alcohólico (es) Swedish: alkoholhaltig (sv) Turkish: alkollü (tr) Welsh: alcoholig

of alcoholism

Bulgarian: алкохоличен (alkoholičen) Catalan: alcohòlic (ca) Finnish: alkoholisoitunut; alkoholismi- (fi) Galician: alcohólico (gl) m Greek: αλκοολικός (el) m (alkoolikós) Italian: alcolizzato (it) Macedonian: алкохоличарски (alkoholičarski) Malay: beralkohol Polish: alkoholiczny (pl)

Anagrams

• colaholic

Interlingua

Adjective

alcoholic (comparative plus alcoholic, superlative le plus alcoholic)

1. alcoholic (containing alcohol)