the.com/poorly
The word for sick that British grandmothers deploy with surgical understatement.
means Done badly, or — in British usage — feeling unwell, often mildly.
from From poor plus -ly, stretching from lacking money to lacking quality to lacking health, since the 1500s.
Regional splitMeans ill in Britain, just badly elsewhere.
Comfort wordSoftens sickness; a poorly child sounds tuckable.
Adverb turned adjectiveRare leap from how-done to how-felt.