malevolent
/məˈlevələnt/muh-LEH-vuh-luhnt
/məˈlɛvələnt/muh-LEH-vuh-luhnt
Meaningwishing ill
Common meaning: wishing harm
- malebad; badlyLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 1104 · scan
- volto wish, be willingLewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), p. 2011 · scan
- entadjective ending: being or doing
‘bad’ + ‘to wish, be willing’ → malevolent
Journey through time
- male — Latin malus; male “bad; badly” (path traced)
- vol — Latin volō, velle “to wish, be willing” (path traced)
- Latinmalus; male + volō, velle‘bad + to wish, be willing’
- Englishmalevolent‘wishing harm’ · today
male also in: maledictionmaladymalicemalicious
vol also in: volitionvoluntarybenevolent
Sources & notes
Meaning: “Meaning” is the sense that emerges from the word’s roots; “Common meaning” is today’s everyday sense. Both written by us.
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: converted from the US form by rule (unchecked). Respelling: generated.
- No UK recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-GB voice.
- US IPA: CMUdict (BSD-2), converted to IPA by rule. Respelling: generated.
- No US recording; the speaker uses your device’s en-US voice.
Origin: Built on Latin malus; male ‘bad; badly’ + Latin volō ‘to wish, be willing’.
Did you know (Latin malus, "bad",…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry malus, p. 1104 · dictionary scan
Did you know (Latin velle, volo,…): our wording, based on Lewis & Short, Latin Dictionary (1879), entry volō, p. 2011 · dictionary scan
Roots
- malus; male Latin “bad; badly”
- volō, velle Latin “to wish, be willing”
Related words
Building blocks are an automatic split · open in app