Where does “mauvais” come from?
mauvais (French) comes from Middle French maulvais, from Old French malvais, from Latin malifātius, from Latin fātum, from Latin fātus, from Latin for, from Proto-Italic fāōr, from Proto-Indo-European bʰéh₂ti — to speak, to be talking.
mauvais (French): bad; wrong, incorrect
Definitions
- bad; wrong, incorrect
Ancestry of “mauvais”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Middle French | maulvais | bad |
| 2 | Old French | malvais | bad, evil |
| 3 | Latin | malifātius | unfortunate |
| 4 | Latin | fātum | destiny, fate, lot |
| 5 | Latin | fātus | spoken, said, told, foretold, related, predicted; having or had spoken, etc |
| 6 | Latin | for | "defective"; I speak, talk, say |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | fāōr | speak |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | bʰéh₂ti | to speak, to be talking |