Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “malevolence” come from?

Malevolence comes from Middle French malevolence, from Latin malevolentia (formed with the suffix -ia from Ancient Greek -ία), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European roots meaning "bad" or "evil."

malevolence (English): Hostile attitude or feeling; Behavior exhibiting...

Definitions

  1. Hostile attitude or feeling; Behavior exhibiting...

Ancestry of “malevolence”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Frenchmalevolence—
2Latinmalevolentiamalevolence, hatred, dislike, envy
3Latinmalevolēns—
4Latinmalebadly; wrongly; cruelly, wickedly
5Latinmalusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;...
6Ancient Greekμηλέα—
7Ancient Greekμῆλονapple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast
8Proto-Indo-European(s)meh₁l-small animal”; small animal
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- →