| 1 | English | malignant | Harmful, malevolent, injurious; Tending to... |
| 2 | Middle French | malignant | — |
| 3 | Late Latin | malignans | maligning |
| 4 | Latin | maligno | I malign; I act viciously; dative masculine... |
| 5 | Latin | malignus | wicked, malicious; spiteful; malignant, malign |
| 6 | Latin | male | badly; wrongly; cruelly, wickedly |
| 7 | Latin | malus | unpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;... |
| 8 | Ancient Greek | μηλέα | — |
| 9 | Ancient Greek | μῆλον | apple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast |
| 10 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)meh₁l- | small animal”; small animal |