Origins – First The Bad News

Built on Latin malus, bad, evil, to malign is to speak evil about, to defame, to slander. Malign is also an adjective meaning bad, harmful, evil, hateful, as in ‘the malign influence of his unconscious will to fail’. Another adjective form is malignant, as in ‘a malignant glance’, i.e., one showing deep hatred, or ‘a malignan growth’, i.e., one that is cancerous (bad).
The noun of malignant is malignancy, which medically, is a cancerous growth, or, generally, the condition, state, or attitude of harmfulness, hatefulness, evil intent, etc. The noun form of the adjective malign is malignity.
Observe how we can construct English words by combining malus with other Latin roots.
Add the root dico, dictus, to say or tell, to form malediction, a curse, i.e., an evil saying. Adjective is maledictory.
Add the root volo, to wish, to will, or to be willing, and we can construct the adjective malevolent, wishing evil or harm – a malevolent glance, attitude, feeling, etc. The noun is malevolence.
Add the root facio, factus, to do or make (also spelled, in English words, fec-, fic-, factus, or, as a verb ending, -fy), to form the adjective maleficent, doing harm or evil, or causing hurt – maleficent acts, deeds, behaviour.
A malefactor is a wrongdoer, an evildoer, a criminal – a malefactor commits a malefaction, a crime, an evil deed.
French is a ‘Romance’ language, that is, a language based on Roman or Latin (as are, also, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Romanian), and so Latin malus became French mal, bad, the source of maladroit, clumsy, bungling, awkward, unskillful, etymologically, having a ‘bad right hand’. The noun is maladroitness. Also from French malmalaise (ma-LAYZ’), an indefinite feeling of bodily discomfort, as in a mild illness, or as a symptom preceding an illness; etymologically, ‘bad ease’, just as disease (dis-ease) is ‘lack of ease’.
Other common words that you are familier with also spring from Latin malus: malicious, malice, malady; and the same malus functions as a prefix in words like maladjusted, malcontent, malpractice, malnutrition, etc., all with the connotation of badness.
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