Wordwyrt

malignant

/məˈlɪɡnənt/muh-LIG-nuhnt
/məˈlɪɡnənt/muh-LIG-nuhnt

Meaningtending to do evil

Common meaning: harmful

Other meanings: (of a tumour) spreading

Journey through time

  1. Latinmalignus‘ill-disposed, wicked’source
  2. Old Frenchmalingsource
  3. Englishmalign‘to speak ill of’
  4. Englishformed in English from malignmalignant‘harmful’ · today

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: Formed in English from malign + -ant.

Dictionary: Skeat (1898), MALIGN, p.349 · scan

Source words

  • malignus Latin · source word “ill-disposed, wicked”

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