The story
- Latin · derived frombenignus“kind, good”
- Old French · derived frombenigne
- Middle English · inherited frombenigne
- 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.