The story
Probably from Italian mal- + chiavello, in which the second component is a diminutive of chiavo (“nail”). The name is attested in a Late Latin document in the form Malclavelli.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Machiavelli
Today it means: Someone like Niccolò Machiavelli: a Machiavellian person Full definition →