Etymology

maleficence

M3A1L1E1F4I1C3E1N1C3E1

Today it means: harmfulness or mischief. Full definition →

Italian maleficenza ← Middle French maleficence ← Latin maleficentia
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Latin · borrowed frommaleficentia
  2. Middle French · borrowed frommaleficence
  3. Italian · borrowed frommaleficenza
  4. English todaymaleficence

From Italian maleficenza or Middle French maleficence or directly from Latin maleficentia.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.