Where does “malefactress” come from?

malefactress (English) comes from English malefactor, from Late Latin malefactor, from Latin malefaciō, from Latin faciō, from Latin -torium, from Latin -tōrius, from Latin -tor, from Proto-Italic -tōr.

malefactress (English): A woman who violates the law or does evil; a...

Definitions

  1. A woman who violates the law or does evil; a...

Ancestry of “malefactress”, step by step

malefactress traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via English malefactor

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishmalefactorA criminal or felon; An evildoer
2Late Latinmalefactorwrongdoer, evildoer, malefactor
3Latinmalefaciōto do evil or harm
4Latinfaciōto do
5Latin-toriumnominative neuter singular of -tōrius; accusative...
6Latin-tōriusory
7Latin-tor-er
8Proto-Italic-tōrForms agent nouns to verb stems
9Proto-Indo-European-tōrDerives agent nouns from verbs, denoting someone...
10Proto-Indo-European-tor-s

via English ess

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishessThe name of the Latin-script letter S; Something...
2Germanessfirst-person singular present of essen; singular...
3Proto-Germanicatiska-grainfield
4Proto-Indo-Europeanh₂edos-sort of cereal, grain
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tor-s