Meaning & use
sick letter
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountableinformal
A note from a doctor that says you are too ill to work or study.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a sick letter' or 'two sick letters'.
Patterns
- get a sick letter
- write a sick letter
- a sick letter from a doctor
She had to take a sick letter to the office after being off for a week.
The school asked for a sick letter before they would let him take the exam.
nouncountableinformal
An informal message you send to your employer to say you will not come to work because you are ill.
Grammar: Countable and usually singular; often used with 'send' or 'get'.
Patterns
- send a sick letter
- get a sick letter
- write a sick letter to someone
I sent a sick letter to my manager first thing in the morning.
He didn't send a sick letter, so the boss was annoyed.
Word forms
| plural | sick letters |
|---|
Common combinations
- get a sick letter
- You need to get a sick letter from your doctor if you're off for more than three days.
- write a sick letter
- He wrote a sick letter to his boss explaining he had the flu.
- a sick letter from a doctor
- The HR department requires a sick letter from a doctor for any absence over a week.
- send a sick letter
- Please send a sick letter by email before 9 a.m. if you can't come in.
Synonyms and how they differ
- sick note
- This is the more common and slightly more formal term in British English for the same document.
- medical certificate
- This is the formal, official term used in professional or legal contexts.
- doctor's note
- This is a neutral, everyday term, especially in American English, for a note from a doctor.
Commonly confused: sick letter or sick leave?
sick letter vs sick leave
Sick leave is the time you are allowed to be away from work because of illness, not the letter itself.
Practice
If you are ill and cannot go to work, you might need to send your employer a ______.
Choose one answer.
'Sick letter' is the document or message you send. 'Sick leave' is the time off, 'sick pay' is the money you receive, and 'sick day' is a single day of illness.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sick letter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.