30 Words to Talk About Sickness in English

We all get sick from time to time, but how many of us know how to talk about it with precision in our second language?

Today’s lesson is going to teach you 30 expressions and words related to sickness and how to express yourself when you’re not feeling well!

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Read Transcript

Hey RealLife community, how’s it going?

Welcome to another episode of RealLIfe TV.

I’m Justin and today I’m going to teach you 30 expressions and words dealing with sickness, so stay tuned.

Ok, there are many expressions dealing with sickness, and we always want to know how to express ourselves, because sometimes it’s really important.

General Expressions

So, you can not be feeling well, and say “I’m not feeling well,” you can be feeling crook, this is like an Australian expression, you can be under the weather, you can be sick as a dog, which is really, really sick, and if you’re sick as a dog, sometimes you want to call in sick. You call in sick, and you might say “I’m indisposed,” “I’m not able to really go to work today, or really show up.”

Cold vs Flu

So, this happens usually when you, maybe when you catch the flu, which is more severe, you might have a fever, which is really, you get a temperature up here.

If you get a cold, that’s a little bit less severe. But remember, it’s have a cold and have the flu.

Pains and Aches

So, when you have the flu, your body aches. But it’s not your normal pain, it’s a pain that pulsates, that throbs.

So, there are different types of aches. You can have a body ache, but also a headache, you can have a stomachache, a toothache, a backache. And, if your heart is broken, you can have a heartache, too.

Other Symptoms

So, other kinds of symptoms, when you’re sick, you have a stuffy nose, when you can’t breathe and your nose is all stuffy. You can have a runny nose, when it’s coming out of your nose there. You can have, this is also called the sniffles. So, runny nose is called the sniffles.

Or you can have a sore throat, your throat hurts. You can have a fever, you can have diarrhea, which is like, when you get sick and you need to go to the bathroom all the time, number 2. This is also called to have the runs.

You can be dizzy, as well. Sometimes, when you have the flu, you get really dizzy. And when you drink too much, you can be hungover.

Verbs related to Sickness

And, finally, some verbs to express things that you do when you’re sick.

You have to blow your nose with the handkerchief, you cough, you sneeze, you vomit, you throw up and you puke. Vomit is probably the best word, or throw up. Puke is a little bit more strong of a word.

Conclusion

But there you have it, 30 expressions dealing with sickness.

So, next time you’re sick, you’ll know how to talk about it.

Thank you very much, have a good day. Make sure you check our website for lots of awesome and free material. Thanks a lot!

  • TeachESL says:

    Good stuff here; though I’d be a bit more descriptive when talking about diarrhea – a liquidy form of ‘number 2.’ I’m sure my students we’ll go….”Euuuuwww!”

  • eranga says:

    that’s great! I learnt lot. thanks man!

  • Myat Hsu Paing says:

    Lessons are cool.
    They’re uself.