What Does [sic] Mean?
Samm [sic] asks “What does [sic] mean?”
Sic in square brackets is an editing term used with quotations or excerpts. It means “that’s really how it appears in the original.”
It is used to point out a grammatical error, misspelling, misstatement of fact, or, as above, the unconventional spelling of a name.
For example, you might want to quote the printed introduction to a college catalog:
Maple Leaf College is well-known for it’s [sic] high academic standards.
Sic is the Latin word for “thus,” or “such.”
When John Wilkes Booth shot Abraham Lincoln and jumped from the balcony to the stage of Ford’s Theatre, he is said to have shouted “Sic semper tyrannis!” He meant “that’s what tyrants get;” literally, “Thus always to tyrants.”
Another common Latin expression you might come across is sic transit gloria mundi. It means “thus passes the glory of the world.” It’s a thought that might occur as one stands by a crumbling pyramid or where the Twin Towers once stood in New York City.
Where I grew up, people who wanted a dog to attack said “sic ‘em!” I’ve seen it in a dictionary spelled “sick,” as in “sick him!” This use is first recorded in 1845 and may come from a dialectal version of seek, “to look for” or “to pursue.”
Maeve Maddox on October 20, 2008 
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Pity that Samm [sic] didn’t feel it appropriate to close his quotation marks in his opening line.
I have always wondered. Thanks.
I always thought it was an abbreviation for “Spelling Is Correct.”
I’m also an idiot.
Eric,
No, but you ARE a creative thinker!
We use this quite a bit when working on academic papers. Often, the client will be quoting a source that has a grammatical or spelling problem. We use [sic] to indicate that the error is in the original source, not in the client’s ability to quote the source accurately.
Just came across this example in a BBC story online.
—In a web posting they added: “no doubt that our attacks can be significantly improved, since we used relatively unexpensive equipments [sic].” —- The writers wanted to show that they know it should be “inexpensive equipment.” The person being quoted is not a native speaker.
I think I read on this site that someone believed “sic” to stand for “said in context”. That’s how I’ve always remembered it, even if it’s not a direct translation, the point remains.
Hey Eric…I thought the same thing. “Spelling Is Correct” just makes more sense, huh?
Oh, really. Good to know. For some reason, I thought the same thing as Eric and Jeff. I even took Latin for 4 years in high school, I should have known better…
I had previously thought it was an acronym for “Spelled InCorrectly”. Hah. I guess I never thought about that one.
I always wondered what this meant, I always see it in Anne Rule’s books and have asked several people what it means and no one seems to know. Then I got the brilliant idea to google it! Thanks people
I had always assumed it was an acronym as well. Something like “Sentence in context” or “Statement in context.” Meaning that in the original context of the article, the errors and omissions of the quotation make sense. With whoever is writing the article adding in things like [T]his and [A. Nonymous, 1987] into the quote make it more readable.
Hi, I’m new and thank you for your very informative column. I’ve already learned so much.
I too, always wondered what [sic] means, and now you’ve cleared it up for me. I love the, “said in context” explannation, I’ll keep that in mind. love your column and thank you!
Thank you for this…I have been seeing this a lot on the web lately and wondered what it meant. I have even used the word “sic em, Sam” before without ever knowing where it came from.
Sara
Nice post! Not to put too fine a point on it, but “sic” is italicized (though the brackets are not).
Reading a news article about an interview with Dick Cheney brought me here. He called Osama bin Laden “Obama” {sic.}
Had to know what it meant. Thanks.
I always thought that “Sic em” meant “Stick it to them”.
What about “ad hoc”? I, too, see that used in articles but have no idea what it means.
the right phrase often comes in handy in sticky situations…….