mal-
See also: Appendix:Variations of "mal"
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
From Old French mal- from Latin male (“badly”), from malus (“bad”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (Southern England): (file)
Prefix
[edit]mal-
- bad, badly
- Synonym: mis-
- unintentional, mistaken, accidental
- Synonym: mis-
- not
Derived terms
[edit]Anagrams
[edit]Asturian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Prefix
[edit]mal-
- bad; badly
- mal- + curiosu (“skillful”) → malcuriosu (“messy, clumsy”)
- mal- + tresnáu (“tidy”) → maltresnáu (“scruffy, untidy”)
- evilly
- mal- + engañar (“to deceive”) → malengañar (“to deceive with evil intentions”)
Derived terms
[edit]Catalan
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From mal.
Prefix
[edit]mal-
Derived terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “mal-”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
Esperanto
[edit]
Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Borrowed from French mal- and Italian mal-.[1] Compare Spanish and English mal-.
Pronunciation
[edit]Prefix
[edit]mal-
- denotes opposites
Usage notes
[edit]- Speakers of languages where words similar to mal- have meanings related to badness or evil should remember that mal- indicates solely the antonym, with no pejorative value. Affixes with pejorative connotations include mis- (“wrongly, incorrectly, poorly”), fi- (“shameful”), and -aĉ- (“inferior in quality, contemptible”).
- Despite the availability of mal-, many words denoting opposites are available; for example malgranda and eta (“small”), or malgaja and trista (“sad”). Some of these are poetic or rare, but others have passed into more or less common use. Mal- may and often is still used to produce the opposite, though in certain cases it might have a slightly different connotation; e.g. malpaco (“turmoil, strife”) vs. milito (“war”). See the Esperanto Wiktionary annex Pri antonimoj for a more exhaustive coverage of these cases.
- When it is necessary to distinguish between the contrary of a sense and the absence of it, the latter may be indicated with ne- (“not”) or sen- (“without”). For example, malamiko (“enemy”) contrasts with neamiko "non-friend" (e.g. a stranger or acquaintance).
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Ebbe Vilborg, “mal-”, in Etimologia Vortaro de Esperanto [Etymological Dictionary of Esperanto], volume 5, →ISBN, pages 150-151
Further reading
[edit]- “mal”, in Plena Ilustrita Vortaro de Esperanto [Complete Illustrated Dictionary of Esperanto], 2020, →ISBN
- “mal-”, in Reta Vortaro [Online Dictionary] (in Esperanto), 1997-2026
French
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Middle French mal-, from Old French mal-, from mal (“bad; badly”).
Pronunciation
[edit]Prefix
[edit]mal-
- badly; wrongly
- mal- + faisant → malfaisant (“harmful”)
- denotes the opposite of the unprefixed form
Derived terms
[edit]Italian
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Prefix
[edit]mal-
Derived terms
[edit]Maltese
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Preposition
[edit]mal-
Old French
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Prefix
[edit]mal-
Synonyms
[edit]Derived terms
[edit]Portuguese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Learned borrowing from Latin male (“badly”).
Prefix
[edit]mal-
Derived terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “mal-”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
- “mal-”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
Spanish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Etymology tree
Derived from Latin male (“badly”).
Prefix
[edit]mal-
Derived terms
[edit]Categories:
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mel-
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Archaic Latin
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms derived from Proto-Italic
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English prefixes
- English terms with usage examples
- Asturian terms derived from Latin
- Asturian lemmas
- Asturian prefixes
- Catalan lemmas
- Catalan prefixes
- Esperanto terms derived from Latin
- Esperanto terms derived from Archaic Latin
- Esperanto terms derived from Middle French
- Esperanto terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mel-
- Esperanto terms borrowed from Italian
- Esperanto terms derived from French
- Esperanto terms derived from Italian
- Esperanto terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Esperanto terms borrowed from French
- Esperanto terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Esperanto terms derived from Old French
- Esperanto 1-syllable words
- Esperanto terms with IPA pronunciation
- Esperanto terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:Esperanto/al
- Rhymes:Esperanto/al/1 syllable
- Esperanto lemmas
- Esperanto prefixes
- Esperanto 1894 Universala Vortaro
- Words approved by the Akademio de Esperanto
- Esperanto BRO1
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms derived from Proto-Italic
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Latin
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mel-
- French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms derived from Archaic Latin
- French 1-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms with audio pronunciation
- French lemmas
- French prefixes
- Italian terms derived from Latin
- Italian lemmas
- Italian prefixes
- Maltese 1-syllable words
- Maltese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Maltese/al
- Rhymes:Maltese/al/1 syllable
- Maltese non-lemma forms
- Maltese preposition forms
- Maltese terms with usage examples
- Old French terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mel-
- Old French terms derived from Archaic Latin
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Old French terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Old French terms derived from Latin
- Old French lemmas
- Old French prefixes
- Portuguese terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mel-
- Portuguese terms derived from Latin
- Portuguese learned borrowings from Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Portuguese terms derived from Archaic Latin
- Portuguese terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Portuguese terms borrowed from Latin
- Portuguese lemmas
- Portuguese prefixes
- Spanish terms derived from Archaic Latin
- Spanish terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- Spanish terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *(s)mel-
- Spanish terms derived from Proto-Italic
- Spanish terms derived from Latin
- Spanish lemmas
- Spanish prefixes