bad

bad · adjective, adjective, adjective, adverb, noun, interjection¹

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*bʰedʰ-“to bend, press, push, oppress”
2. Old English · derived frombæddel“hermaphrodite”
3. Middle English · inherited frombad
4. English todaybad

From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), or at least related to it and/or to bǣ̆dan (“to defile”), compare Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”). Alternatively, perhaps a loan from Old Norse into Middle English, compare Norwegian bad (“effort, trouble, fear”, neuter noun), East Danish bad (“damage, destruction, fight”, neuter noun), from the Proto-Germanic noun *badą, whence also Proto-Germanic *badōną (“to frighten”), Old Saxon undarbadōn (“to frighten”), Norwegian Nynorsk bada (“to weigh down, press”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to bend, press, push, oppress”). False cognate of Persian بد (bad).

bad · verb²

1. Old English · derived frombæd
2. Middle English · derived frombad
3. English todaybad

From Middle English bad, from Old English bæd, first- and third-person singular indicative past tense of biddan (“to ask”).

bad · verb³

Unknown.

Words from the same roots