malevolent

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin malevolēns (“ill-disposed, spiteful, envious”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} also spelled malivolēns,^[7] formed from male (“badly, ill”) and volēns (“wishing, willing”), the present participle of volō (“to wish, will”).^[2][6][5][8] Etymonline and the Shorter Oxford also give Old French malivolent as a source,^[6][9] and the revised OED allows that it may instead have been formed in English from malevolence, recorded from about 1454, with the suffix -ent.^[2] The OED compares the earlier benevolent, noting that the Latin adjective was contrasted with Latin benevolēns, and also malevolus.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a person, feeling or action, wishing evil to others: 1509, in Barclay's Shyp of Folys.^[2][7] Etymonline dates it to about 1500 and Dictionary.com to 1500–10.^[6][8]

Semantic evolution

In astrology, from 1593, a malevolent planet or star was one with an evil influence,^[2][10] a use extended to other things from 1598, in Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1, until 1686.^[2] Johnson (1755) defined the word as ill-disposed towards others, unfavourable, malignant, quoting Dryden's line about "our malevolent stars".^[11] This fits a wider pattern of describing behaviour and badness in terms of the heavenly bodies, found since the late 14th century.^[12] The general sense harmful or baleful is recorded from 1603,^[2] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged keeps a sense productive of harm or evil.^[7] A noun, a person of evil designs, was used from 1609 to 1670, and once, in 1651, for an evil astrological influence.^[2]

Timeline

• 1509 – wishing evil to others.^[2][7]
• 1593 – astrology, having an evil influence.^[2]
• 1598 – in extended use, of other things (obsolete by 1686).^[2]
• 1603 – harmful, baleful.^[2]
• 1609 – noun, a person of evil wishes or designs (obsolete by 1670).^[2]
• 1651 – noun, astrology, an evil influence (rare, obsolete).^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Wishing or showing ill will toward others; spiteful or malicious: She gave her rival a malevolent stare.^[10][7][2]
2. Causing harm or evil; baleful.^[7][2]
3. (astrology) Having an evil influence.^[10][2]

Word family

• malevolently
• unmalevolent

Related words

• malevolence
• benevolent
• maleficent
• volition
• malice

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
8. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Mapping Metaphor with the Historical Thesaurus, University of Glasgow, mappingmetaphor.arts.gla.ac.uk