Where does “mal” come from?

mal (Portuguese) comes from Old Occitan mal, from Latin malus, from Ancient Greek μηλέα, from Ancient Greek μῆλον, from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- — small animal”; small animal.

mal (Portuguese): badly; hardly; barely; wrong

Definitions

  1. badly; hardly; barely; wrong

Ancestry of “mal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Occitanmalbad
2Latinmalusunpleasant, distressing, painful, nasty, bad;...
3Ancient Greekμηλέαapple tree
4Ancient Greekμῆλονapple; any fruit from a tree; a woman's breast
5Proto-Indo-European(s)meh₁l-small animal”; small animal

Words derived from “mal”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European (s)meh₁l- →Every word from Ancient Greek μῆλον →Every word from Ancient Greek μηλέα →