English
malignity
Malignity comes from Latin malignitās ‘spite, malice, malignity’, from benignus ‘kind, generous’, and ultimately from malus ‘bad, wicked’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalus‘bad, wicked’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmale‘badly’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbenignus‘kind, generous’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalignus‘malicious’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalignitās‘spite, malice, malignity’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600maligneté
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500malignete
- Englishearliest quotation 1817malignity
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalus‘bad, wicked’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmale‘badly’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEbenignus‘kind, generous’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalignus‘malicious’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalignitās‘spite, malice, malignity’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600maligneté
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500malignete
- Englishearliest quotation 1817malignity
Earliest quotation: 1817, Hurst: “He had some advantage in the difference of our…”
Equivalent to malign + -ity
Latin malignus ‘wicked, malicious, stingy’
Old French maligne
Middle English maligne ‘evil, malicious, malign’
English malign
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- ‘false, erroneous’
through Latin malus ‘bad, wicked’
malicious, malice, pessimist, malus, 10 more
through Latin male ‘badly’
through Latin benignus ‘kind, generous’
Today it means
noun The quality of being malign or malignant; badness, evilness, monstrosity, depravity, maliciousness.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin malus / malignity