Meanings
plural maladies
- Any ailment or disease of the body; especially, a lingering or deep-seated disorder.
The maladies of the body may prove medicines of the mind.
a. 1812, Joseph Stevens Buckminster, It is Good for Me, that I have been Afflicted (sermon)1 more example
As, to prevent our maladies unseen, / We sicken to shun sickness when we purge.
1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet CXVIII”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC
Synonyms & antonyms
nounimpairment of normal physiological function affecting part or all of an organism
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinmale habitus“ill-kept, not in good condition”
- Old Frenchmaladie“sickness, illness, disease”
- Middle Englishmaladie
- Englishmalady
From Middle English maladie, from Old French maladie (“sickness, illness, disease”), from malade (“ill, sick”), from Latin male habitus (“ill-kept, not in good condition”), 1st century AD. See also malice and habit.
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian болест, разстройство
- болест (bolest)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
- разстройство (razstrojstvo)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
Chinese Mandarin 疾病
- 疾病 (jíbìng)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
Czech nemoc, choroba
- nemoca disease, illness, or other health disorder
- chorobaa disease, illness, or other health disorder
- nešvarmoral or mental disorder
- neduhmoral or mental disorder
Esperanto malsano
- malsanoa disease, illness, or other health disorder
Finnish sairaus, tauti
- sairausa disease, illness, or other health disorder
- tautia disease, illness, or other health disorder
French maladie
- maladiea disease, illness, or other health disorder
German Krankheit, Übel
- Krankheita disease, illness, or other health disorder
- Übela disease, illness, or other health disorder
Hindi रोग
- रोग (rog)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
Italian malattia
- malattiaa disease, illness, or other health disorder
Latin morbus
- morbusa disease, illness, or other health disorder
Norwegian Bokmål sykdom, sjukdom
- sykdoma disease, illness, or other health disorder
- sjukdoma disease, illness, or other health disorder
Portuguese mal
- mala disease, illness, or other health disorder
Russian боле́знь, заболева́ние
- боле́знь (boléznʹ)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
- заболева́ние (zabolevánije)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
- расстро́йство (rasstrójstvo)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
- неду́г (nedúg)a disease, illness, or other health disorder
Spanish mal, achaque
- mala disease, illness, or other health disorder
- achaquea disease, illness, or other health disorder
- malezaa disease, illness, or other health disorder
- ajea disease, illness, or other health disorder
- aja disease, illness, or other health disorder
- axa disease, illness, or other health disorder
- dolenciaa disease, illness, or other health disorder
Swedish sjukdom
- sjukdoma disease, illness, or other health disorder
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
malady. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malady
“malady.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malady. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “malady,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/malady.
Source: malady on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.