malgrado

Etymology

It is a compound from Italian malo (“bad”) + grado (“liking, pleasure”), first written ⟨mal grado⟩, literally “ill will”.^[2][3][4][5] The noun grado “pleasure, liking” is from Latin grātum (“pleasing thing”), with the northern voicing of ⟨-t-⟩; it survives elsewhere only in phrases such as di buon grado.^[4][1] The spelling Old Italian malgrato is also recorded in the 13th century.^[6]

Sabatini–Coletti considers it a calque of French malgré, and DEI compares Old French maugré of the 12th century.^[7][6] Wiktionary instead derives it from Latin male (“badly”) ⟨grātus⟩ “ungrateful”, and compares Catalan malgrat.^[1] The adverb is from malus (“bad”).^[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Sabatini–Coletti dates the word to the 12th century and Nocentini, DEI and GRADIT to the 13th.^[7][4][3][6] The oldest use is the noun mal grado “displeasure, resentment”, as in Boccaccio: io riavrò colei che è meritamente mia, mal grado che voi n'abbiate (“I shall have back her who is rightly mine, however much it displeases you”).^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

Joined to a possessive, mio, tuo, suo malgrado, the phrase came to mean “against my, your, his will”;^[10][9][5] Ariosto has mal grado di Carlo “in spite of Charles” in 1516.^[10][9][5] The preposition “in spite of” before a noun is recorded in 1744 in Francesco Maria Zanotti, and the conjunction “although” with the subjunctive before 1788 in Gaetano Filangieri.^[10] The noun sense is now archaic.^[11][2]

In the 19th century Tommaseo still found malgrado che in the sense “even though” improper.^[9] English used malgrado of “in spite of” in 1590.^[12]

Timeline

• 12th century – First record, according to Sabatini–Coletti.^[7]
• 13th century – The spelling malgrato is recorded.^[6]
• 1516 – Ariosto uses mal grado “against the will of”.^[10]
• 1590 – English malgrado of is recorded.^[12]
• 1744 – Francesco Maria Zanotti uses it as a preposition “in spite of”.^[10]
• Before 1788 – Gaetano Filangieri uses it as a conjunction.^[10]

Meanings

Preposition

1. In spite of, despite, nonostante: Malgrado la nebbia, siamo partiti.^[3][2][11]
2. After a possessive: against the will of;^[3][2][7] mio malgrado “against my will”: Ha dovuto cedere suo malgrado.^[3][2][7]
3. Conjunction: although, even though, followed by the subjunctive; also malgrado che: Malgrado piovesse, è uscito.^[3][7][11]
4. Noun (archaic): displeasure, resentment.^[3][2][11]

Related words

• grado
• male
• nonostante
• French malgré

Usage notes

The word is invariable and is also written mal grado in literary use.^[11][5] Malgrado ciò and ciò malgrado mean “nevertheless”.^[11] Literary Italian also has malgrado di and a malgrado di.^[11][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
4. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
6. ^ a b c d Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2331
7. ^ a b c d e f Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
10. ^ a b c d e f Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
11. ^ a b c d e f g Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ a b Stammerjohann, Harro, et al. (2008), Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze: Accademia della Crusca; online at difit.italianisticaonline.it
13. ^ Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli