malign

Etymology

The adjective is inherited from Middle English maligne,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman maligne and Old French maligne,^[4][5][6] from Latin malignus (“evil-disposed, bad-natured”).^[4][5][7] The French form is the feminine of malin,^[7][8] and the Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the early 12th century for an evil person or thing and for the Devil.^[9] Etymonline, Barnhart and Klein analyse the Latin adjective as male (“badly”) and -gnus (“born”), from gignō (“to beget, bear”), from Proto-Indo-European *gene- (“to give birth, beget”);^[5][10][3] the OED and others start from malus (“evil, bad”),^[4][7][11] a word of unknown origin according to Ayto.^[12] Compare benign, of the same formation.^[7][4][3] The verb is inherited from Middle English malignen,^[13][6] borrowed from Anglo-Norman maligner and Old French malignier (“to plot, deceive, act wrongly”),^[4][5][13] from malignō (“to act evilly, scheme, maltreat”), also recorded as malignor, itself from the Latin adjective.^[4][6][3] Barnhart thinks the late date of the verb suggests that it may be derived from the English adjective, or at least influenced by it,^[10] and Johnson also took it from the adjective.^[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of a thing, evil in nature and effects: before 1333, in William of Shoreham's poems.^[4][10] Etymonline dates it to the early 14th century, of things or behaviour, "wicked, sinful".^[5]

Semantic evolution

The adjective moved from things to persons in the 15th century, when it came to describe a disposition of ill will,^[4][5] and in medicine it served for a dangerous disease, a use now disused in favour of malignant.^[4][8] Astrologers used it of planets exercising a baleful influence, as in Milton's "aspect malign", quoted by Johnson.^[4][14] The verb first meant to do wrong or attack, as in Anglo-Norman and Middle English,^[9][13] and to speak ill or plot, with against.^[4][5] It then spread to feeling malice (from before 1439) and to regarding with hatred or envy (from before 1535, in Thomas More), both later lost.^[4][8] Johnson (1755) still gave "to regard with envy or malice" as the first sense.^[14] Only the transitive sense of speaking ill of someone survived, first recorded about 1450 in Lydgate, and Hoad and the Shorter Oxford date it much later, to the 17th and the mid 16th century.^[4][7][8]

Timeline

• before 1333 – adjective, of things, evil in nature and effects.^[4][10]
• before 1425 – of a disease, malignant.^[4]
• c. 1425 – verb, to act wickedly, and to speak ill, in Lydgate's Troy Book.^[4] Barnhart dates the verb to before 1420.^[10]
• c. 1429 – of a person, malevolent.^[4]
• c. 1450 – verb, transitive, to speak ill of or slander.^[4]
• before 1475 – in astrology, baleful (obsolete by 1738).^[4]
• before 1535 – verb, to regard with hatred (obsolete by 1694).^[4]
• 1536 – noun, a malign person (rare).^[4]
• 1589 – verb, to grudge or envy (obsolete by 1706).^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Evil in nature, influence or effect; harmful: the malign effects of the drought.^[15][2][4]
2. Of a person or look, showing ill will; malevolent.^[2][4][8]
3. (rare) Of a disease, malignant.^[2][4][8]
4. (obsolete, before 1475–1738) In astrology, having a baleful influence.^[4][8]

Verb

1. To speak ill of, often falsely; to slander or defame: The article maligned a blameless clerk.^[15][2][4]
2. (obsolete, before 1535–1694) To regard with hatred or bitter dislike.^[4][2][8]
3. (obsolete, 1589–1706) To begrudge or envy.^[4][2]
4. (obsolete) To speak, think or act with ill will, also with against.^[4][2][8]

Noun

1. (rare) A malign person.^[4]

Word family

• maligner
• malignly

Related words

• malignant
• malignancy
• benign
• malice
• malady
• malevolent
• malediction
• malaise
• mal-

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
13. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ a b c Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins