sick man of Europe
Any European country undergoing economic difficultyAny European country undergoing economic difficulty.
Meaning
2 sensesAny European country undergoing economic difficulty.
(archaic)The Ottoman Empire.
kranker Mann am Bosporus
больно́й челове́к Евро́пыbolʹnój čelovék Jevrópy
Translations
7 languagesРусский
Ottoman Empire:
Deutsch
Ottoman Empire:
Origin
Calque of Russian больно́й челове́к Европы (bolʹnój čelovék Jevropy), a phrase coined by CCalque of Russian больно́й челове́к Европы (bolʹnój čelovék Jevropy), a phrase coined by Czar Nicholas I of the Empire of Russia, referring to the poor state of the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.