Etymology Explorer › Old French

Where does “malivolent” come from?

malivolent (Old French) comes from Latin malevolēns, 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 “malivolent”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Latinmalevolēns—
2Latinmalebadly; wrongly; cruelly, wickedly
3Latinmalusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;...
4Ancient Greekμηλέα—
5Ancient Greekμῆλονapple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast
6Proto-Indo-European(s)meh₁l-small animal”; small animal

Words derived from “malivolent”

  • malevolent
  • malevolently
  • malevolent
Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- →