Where does “malignant” come from?
malignant (Middle French) comes from Late Latin malignans, from Latin maligno, from Latin malignus, from Latin male, from Latin malus, from Ancient Greek μηλέα, from Ancient Greek μῆλον, from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- — small animal”; small animal.
Ancestry of “malignant”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Late Latin | malignans | maligning |
| 2 | Latin | maligno | I malign; I act viciously; dative masculine... |
| 3 | Latin | malignus | wicked, malicious; spiteful; malignant, malign |
| 4 | Latin | male | badly; wrongly; cruelly, wickedly |
| 5 | Latin | malus | unpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;... |
| 6 | Ancient Greek | μηλέα | apple tree |
| 7 | Ancient Greek | μῆλον | apple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | (s)meh₁l- | small animal”; small animal |