Etymology

malevolent

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Today it means: Having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others. Full definition →

Middle English *malevolent ← Old French malivolent ← Latin malevolentem
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The story

  1. Latin · derived frommalevolentem
  2. Old French · derived frommalivolent
  3. Middle English · inherited from*malevolent
  4. English todaymalevolent

From Middle English *malevolent (suggested by Middle English malevolence), from Old French malivolent and Latin malevolentem, from male (“badly, wrongly”) + volens (“willing, wishing”), from velle (“to wish”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.