Etymologically
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malnutrition

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 02:06. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • US: /ˌmæl.nuˈtɹɪʃ.ən/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English mal- + nutrition.[2][3][4][5][6] The base noun is from Middle French nutrition and directly Late Latin nūtrītiō (“action of nourishing”), from Latin nūtriō (“to nourish, suckle, feed”).[3][2] The prefix is from French mal (“badly”), from Latin male (“badly”).[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Faulty nourishment resulting from imperfect assimilation of food: 1843, in Etymonline.[2] The OED's first quotation is from the Dublin Medical Press of 3 April 1850,[3] Merriam-Webster dates the word to 1862,[4] and Dictionary.com to 1860–65.[6]

Semantic evolution

Weekley counts it among the 19th-century coinages with mal-, like malodorous.[7] The OED now defines it broadly, as nutrition that does not keep a person healthy, whether through too little or too much food, a lack of essential parts of the diet, or poor absorption,[3][5] while Collins and the AHD stress too little food, an unbalanced diet and faulty assimilation.[8][9] The Shorter Oxford also uses it for the state of poor health that results.[5]

Timeline

  • 1843 – faulty nourishment from imperfect assimilation of food.[2] The OED's first record is from 1850.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Poor nutrition caused by too little food, an unbalanced diet, or the body's failure to absorb or use nutrients: Many of the children in the camp showed signs of malnutrition.[8][4][9][3]
  2. The state of poor health that results from this.[5]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  5. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt