Contextualizebeta

sidekick

noun
/ˈsaɪdkɪk/

Etymology

From side + kick, which in the late 19th and early 20th century was a slang term for the front side pocket of a pair of trousers, known as the pocket safest from theft. Thus, by analogy, a "side-kick" was a person's closest companion.

  1. derived from *ǵeyH-✻ — “to sprout, shoot”
  2. derived from *kī-✻
  3. derived from *kaikaz✻ — “bent backwards”
  4. derived from kikna — “to sink at the knees”
  5. inherited from kyken — “to strike out with the foot”
  6. formed as sidekick — “side + kick”

Definitions

  1. An assistant to another person, especially to a superior or more important person.

    • If representation and recruitment is an objective, self-styled mavericks like Kelly and his Queensland sidekick George Christensen have some utility.
    • Elon Musk, Mr. Trump’s new sidekick, shared on his social media platform X an NBC News video of Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, who suggested the Gaetz pick was a strategic move to upset Democrats.

  2. In literature, theatre, etc., a good foil of the protagonist, a character who helps…

    In literature, theatre, etc., a good foil of the protagonist, a character who helps emphasize the traits of the main character.

    • So even though he had – no question – the best lines in Friends, he was never what he would have been in an earlier era: the sidekick.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for sidekick. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA