Etymology

malice aforethought

Today it means: The criminal intent which precedes a crime, especially murder. Full definition →

Anglo-Norman malice prepensé
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The story

  1. Anglo-Norman · calque ofmalice prepensé
  2. English todaymalice aforethought

Calque of Anglo-Norman malice prepensé (literally “forethought malice”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.