Etymology

benign

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Today it means: Kind; gentle; mild. Full definition →

Middle English benigne ← Old French benigne ← Latin benignus
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frombenignus“kind, good”
  2. Old French · derived frombenigne
  3. Middle English · inherited frombenigne
  4. English todaybenign

From Middle English benigne, benygne, from Old French benigne, from Latin benignus (“kind, good”), from bene (“well”) + genus (“origin, kind”). Compare malign.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.