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mal

Etymology and origin of the French word mal

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
881, Séquence de sainte Eulalie
Inherited from
Latin malus
Ultimate origin
Latin (malus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin malus
French mal

Pronunciation

Forms

mal m (plural maux)[1] The old adjective had a feminine male, still seen in male mort and à la male heure.[2]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin malus (“bad, harmful, wicked”) and the corresponding adverb male (“badly”), which both gave “mal”.[3][2][4][5][6] The origin of the noun is disputed: the Grand Robert derives it from malum (“evil”), Rey sees it rather as the French adjective used as a noun, since “malum” merged in sound with the adverb and survives nowhere else in Romance, Bloch and Wartburg think it is the adverb, as the noun is everywhere else (Italian male, Spanish mal, Portuguese mal).[5][3][4]

Rey describes “malus” as an old religious term and compares Lithuanian mẽlas (“lie”) and Old Irish “mellaim” “I deceive”, Wiktionary mentions, as possible, Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“bad, wrong”).[3][1] The adjective is cognate with Italian malo and Spanish malo.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as an adjective in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie (881): mals conselliers “evil counsellors”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective declined before mauvais and méchant, and since the 17th century survives only in phrases such as bon gré mal gré (1330, bon gré mau gré), bon an mal an, the predicate il est mal de (1649), and in compounds such as malheur and malchance.[2][3][4]

The adverb appears in 1080 meaning “unfavourably”, with de mal en pis at the end of the 12th century.[3][4] Placed before an adjective or verb it once amounted to a full negation (1155), then to a weakened one (1273), and since the 13th century it has meant “imperfectly”, “in a morally wrong way” dates from the 14th century (mal faire, 1361).[3] Mal en point dates from 1536, and pas mal was first quantitative (1661), then qualitative, “rather good” (1761); être mal “to be in a fix” appeared in the 1990s.[3] As a prefix mal- forms maladroit and malaise, and in older words became mau-, as in maudire.[3][4]

Timeline

  • 881 – Adjective mals in the Séquence de sainte Eulalie.[2]
  • 980 – The noun mal.[5]
  • 1080 – The adverb, in the Chanson de Roland.[3][8]
  • Late 12th century – De mal en pis.[3][8]
  • 1330 – Bon gré mau gré.[2]
  • 1536 – Mal en point.[3]
  • 1649 – Il est mal de, in Balzac.[2]
  • 1661 – Pas mal “quite a lot”.[3]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Badly, poorly: Ça commence mal, mal payé.[1][7]
  2. Unwell: se sentir mal, se trouver mal, to faint.[7][8]
  3. Wrongly, in a morally bad way: mal agir.[3][8]
  4. Pas mal: quite a lot; rather good, not bad.[3]

Adjective

  1. In set phrases: bad: bon gré mal gré, bon an mal an.[2][4]
  2. Morally wrong: C'est mal de mentir.[2][3]

Noun

  1. Evil: le bien et le mal.[1]
  2. Harm, damage: faire du mal à quelqu'un, il n'y a pas de mal.[1][9]
  3. Pain, ache: avoir mal à la tête, le mal de mer.[1]
  4. Trouble, difficulty: avoir du mal à faire quelque chose.[1]

Word family

  • malheur
  • malchance
  • maladroit
  • malaise

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 123b
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Mal.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/mal. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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