Etymology

malgré lui

Today it means: Contrary to their desires or ambitions. Full definition →

French malgré
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The story

  1. French · borrowed fromlui“him”
  2. French · borrowed frommalgré“against”
  3. English todaymalgré lui

Borrowed from French malgré (“against”) and French lui (“him”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.