evil

Wikipedia

English

A stereotypical evil man. This is an artistic representation of the purposely distinctive visage of villains, initially from the stage plays of the 1880s.

Another stereotypical evil man. Adolf Hitler.

Etymology

Old English yfel, from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz (compare East Frisian eeuwel, Dutch euvel, German übel), from Proto-Indo-European *h_2/3upélos, diminutive of h_2/3u̯op 'treat badly' (compare Hittite huwappi 'to mistreat, harass', huwappa 'evil, badness').

Pronunciation

• enPR: ē-vəl, IPA: /ˈiːvəl/, SAMPA: /"i:v@l/
• enPR: ē-vĭl, IPA: /ˈiːvɪl/, SAMPA: /"i:vIl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːvəl

Adjective

evil (comparative eviller, eviler, or more evil, superlative evillest, evilest, or most evil)

1. Intending to harm; malevolent.
2. Morally corrupt.
3. Unpleasant.

Synonyms

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the template {{sense|"gloss"}}, substituting a short version of the definition for "gloss".

• nefarious
• malicious
• malevolent
• See also Wikisaurus:evil

Antonyms

• good

Derived terms

terms derived from evil (adjective)

evil eye evil laugh evil laughter evilly

evil-minded Evil One evil twin evilness

Translations

intending to harm

Arabic: شرير (ar) (shirriir) m. Armenian: չար (hy) (čar) Basque: gaizto (eu) Bulgarian: лош (bg) m. Chinese: Mandarin: 邪惡的 (cmn), 邪恶的 (cmn) (xiéède), 壞的 (cmn), 坏的 (cmn) (huàide) Coptic: ϩⲟⲟⲩ (hoou) Croatian: zao (hr) Czech: zlý (cs) m. Danish: ond (da), slem (da), slet (da), dårlig (da), skadelig (da) Dutch: kwaadaardig (nl), boosaardig (nl), kwaad (nl), slecht (nl) Egyptian: ḏw Estonian: please add this translation if you can Faroese: óndur (fo), óreinur (fo) Finnish: paha (fi) French: mauvais (fr) m., maléfique (fr) m. and f. Georgian: ბოროტი (ka) (boroti) German: böse (de), übel (de) Greek: κακός (el) (kakós) Haitian Creole: move (ht), mechan (ht) Hebrew: רע (he), מרושע (he) (merusha) m. Hiligaynon: please add this translation if you can Hindi: दुष्ट (duṣṭa), बुरा (burā), पापी (pāpī) Hungarian: gonosz (hu) Icelandic: illur (is) m., ill (is) f. illt (is) n.; vondur (is) m., vond (is) f., vont (is) n.; slæmur (is) m., slæm (is) f., slæmt (is) n. Indonesian: jahat (id) Interlingua: mal, malefic Italian: malvagio (it) m. Kannada: ಕೆಟ್ಟ (kn) (keṭṭa), (formally) ದುಷ್ಠ (kn) (duṣṭha) Kazakh: қастық (kk) Lao: please add this translation if you can Latgalian: ļauns

Latin: malus (la) m., mala (la) f., malum (la) n. Latvian: ļauns (1) Limburgish: kwaod (li), euvel (li) Luhya: please add this translation if you can Luo: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: please add this translation if you can Malay: please add this translation if you can Malayalam: please add this translation if you can Navajo: doo yáʼáshǫ́ǫ da Norwegian: ond (no), slem (no) Ojibwe: maji- Old English: unriht (ang) Persian: مضر (fa) Polish: zły (pl) m., zła (pl) f., złe (pl) n. Portuguese: mau m., má f., maléfico m., maléfica f., ruim m. and f. (1,2) Romanian: rău (ro) Russian: злой (ru) (zloj) Scottish Gaelic: olc m., aingidheachd f., urchaid f., truaighe f. Serbian: зао (sr) (zȁo) m., зла (sr) (zlȁ) f., зло (sr) (zlȍ) n. Serbo-Croatian: please add this translation if you can Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can Slovak: zlý (sk) m., zlá (sk) f., zlé (sk) n. Slovene: please add this translation if you can Spanish: mal (es), malo (es), malvado (es), malévolo (es), maléfico (es), malvado (es), perverso (es) Swedish: ond (sv), elak (sv) Tamil: please add this translation if you can Telugu: దుష్ట (dushTa), దెయ్యం (deyyam) Thai: please add this translation if you can Tupinambá: poxy Turkish: kötücül (tr), şeytani (tr), şeytanî (tr) Ukrainian: злий (uk) (zlyj), жорстокий (uk) (žorstókyj) Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can Visayan: demonyo Volapük: badik (vo)

morally corrupt

Armenian: չար (hy) (čar) Bulgarian: зъл (bg) Croatian: pokvaren (hr)

Dutch: slecht (nl) Volapük: badik (vo)

Noun

Wikipedia evil (countable and uncountable; plural evils)

1. The forces/behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good. Evil generally seeks own benefit at the expense of others and is based on general malevolence.

   The evils of society include murder.

2. Any particular individual or state which may follow these forces or behaviors.

Antonyms

• good

Derived terms

terms derived from evil (noun)

axis of evil evildoer king's evil

lesser evil poll evil

Translations

evil

Arabic: شر (ar) (sharr) m. Armenian: չարություն (hy) (čarut’yun), չարիք (hy) (čarik’) Belarusian: зло (be) (zlo) n. Bulgarian: зло (bg) (zlo) n. Chinese: Mandarin: 邪惡 (cmn), 邪恶 (cmn) (xié'è), 惡 (cmn), 恶 (cmn) (è) Croatian: zlo (hr) n. Czech: zlo (cs) n. Danish: ond (da) c., ondskab (da) c. Dutch: kwade (nl) n., kwaad (nl) n., slechte (nl) n. Esperanto: malbono (eo) Finnish: paha (fi), pahuus (fi) French: mal (fr) m. German: Böse (de) n., Übel (de) n. Greek: κακό (el) (kakó) n. Haitian Creole: mal (ht) Italian: male (it) Japanese: 邪悪 (ja) (じゃあく, jaaku), 悪 (ja) (あく, aku) Kazakh: қастық (kk)

Latin: malum (la) n. Macedonian: зло (mk) (zlo) n. Norwegian: ond (no) c., ondskap (no) c. Persian: بدی (fa) (badi) Polish: zło (pl) n. Portuguese: mal (pt) m. Russian: зло (ru) (zlo) n., лихо (ru) (líxo) n., худо (ru) (xúdo) n. Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: зло (sh) n. Roman: zlo (sh) n. Slovak: zlo (sk) n. Slovene: zlo (sl) n. Spanish: mal (es) m. Swedish: ond (sv) c., ondska (sv) c. Turkish: kötülük (tr) Ukrainian: зло (uk) (zlo) n., лихо (uk) (lýxo) n. Volapük: bad (vo) Welsh: drygioni (cy) m. West Frisian: kwea (fy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

Esperanto: malbono, malboneco Hebrew: רע (ra), רשע (resha) Indonesian: kejahatan

Interlingua: mal Latvian: ļaunums m., ļaunais m. Old English: unriht Romanian: rău m., rea f. Tupinambá: poxy

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: agreement · ship · third · #692: evil · outside · beside · worth

Anagrams

• Levi
• live
• veil
• vile
• vlei