Etymology Explorer › French

Where does “méchanceté” come from?

méchanceté (French) comes from Old French mescheance, from Old French mes, from Latin magis, from Dutch magisch, from Dutch magie, from French magie, from Middle French magie, from Latin magīa — to be able.

méchanceté (French): nastiness, malice, wickedness

Definitions

  1. nastiness, malice, wickedness

Ancestry of “méchanceté”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchmescheancemisfortune; evil act or deed
2Old Frenchmesbut; my
3Latinmagismore; more greatly; better
4Dutchmagischmagical, controlled or determined by supernatural...
5Dutchmagiemagic, sorcery ; hence supernatural occurrences...
6Frenchmagiemagic; A magical, surprising, fascinating feat;...
7Middle Frenchmagie—
8Latinmagīa—
9Ancient Greekμαγεία—
10Ancient GreekΜάγοςmagician, and derogatorily sorcerer, trickster,...
11Old Persian𐎶𐎦𐏁priest
12Proto-Iranianmagúš—
13Proto-Indo-Iranianmagʰúš—
14Proto-Indo-Europeanmegʰ-ú-s—
15Proto-Indo-Europeanmegʰ-to be able
Every word from Proto-Indo-European megʰ- →