What does sic mean?

There may be times when you would be reading something and in the middle of a quotation, you will see the word sic. This usually means that the author would like to add a statement that was said by another person. There are times when there is a mistake with the statement that the person said so the author would use another word instead and will add the word sic right next to it.

This means that the person who has said the statement may have meant another word instead. This is meant to help people understand what the statement means better. Without this, it might be harder to understand what the statement meant.

Occasionally, you may see the words sic written in a paragraph or sentence. The paragraph or sentence would be a quote from what someone had said. When the quote is written out, they person may have made a mistake when stating this sentence or paragraph. A word may have been left out. A word needed to be transcribed. When someone is being quoted, the words that the person said must be written out exactly as it was stated.

If there is an error in what words the person said, the right word or correct word may be added to the written statement and the word sic written next to the correction in the paragraph. This shows others that this word was inserted, but it is what the person meant to say.