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malfunction

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Etymology and origin of the English word malfunction

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1916 Washington Post
Ultimate origins
English mal-Middle French fonction
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fungor
Latin functio
Italian funzione
English function
English malfunction
From the same root
Latin perfungor ← fungor
English dysfunction ← function

Pronunciation

  • /ˌmælˈfʌŋk.ʃən/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English mal- + function,[2][3][4][5][6] the noun from the noun function and the verb from the verb.[2][5] The OED notes that the slightly earlier malfunctioning was formed at first from the prefix and the noun functioning.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bad or faulty working, or an instance of it: 1916, in the Washington Post,[2] shortly after malfunctioning (1912, in Science).[2] Etymonline dates the noun much earlier, to 1827,[3] and Dictionary.com to 1925–30.[6]

Semantic evolution

The verb, to work badly or fail to work, is first recorded in the OED in 1941, in a book on automatic firearms,[2][4] although Etymonline finds it by 1888 and the Shorter Oxford dates it to the early 20th century.[3][5] Merriam-Webster's examples of its use range from rifles and parachutes to the nervous system.[4]

Timeline

  • 1912 – malfunctioning, faulty working.[2]
  • 1916 – noun, bad or faulty working; an instance of it.[2]
  • 1941 – verb, to work badly or fail to work.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Failure to work properly, or faulty working: Engine malfunction forced the pilot to turn back.[7][4][2]
  2. An instance of this; a fault or breakdown.[4][2]

Verb

  1. To fail to work, or to work imperfectly or irregularly: The printer malfunctioned halfway through the report.[7][4][2]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
Cite this entry

“Malfunction.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/malfunction. Accessed 1 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·