malady

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English maladie, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French maladie (“sickness, illness, disease”), from malade (“ill, sick”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Latin male habitus (“ill-kept, not in good condition”), 1st century AD. See also malice and habit.

Pronunciation

• enPR: măl'ə-dē, IPA^(key): /ˈmæl.ə.di/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

malady (plural maladies)

1. Any ailment or disease of the body; especially, a lingering or deep-seated disorder.
   • William Shakespeare, Sonnet CXVIII

     As, to prevent our maladies unseen, / We sicken to shun sickness when we purge.

   • Buckminster

     The maladies of the body may prove medicines to the mind.

2. A moral or mental defect or disorder.
   • John Dryden

     Love's a malady without a cure.

Synonyms

• ailment
• disease
• disorder
• distemper
• illness
• sickness

Translations

a disease, illness, or other health disorder

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 疾病 (zh) (jíbìng)

• Finnish: sairaus (fi), tauti (fi)
• French: maladie (fr) f
• German: Krankheit (de) f, Übel (de) n
• Italian: malattia (it) f
• Japanese: please add this translation if you can
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: morbus (la)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: sykdom (no) m, sjukdom (no) m

  Nynorsk: sjukdom m

• Portuguese: mal (pt)
• Russian: боле́знь (ru) f (boléznʹ), заболева́ние (ru) n (zabolevánije), расстро́йство (ru) n (rasstrójstvo), неду́г (ru) m (nedúg)
• Spanish: mal (es) m
• Swedish: sjukdom (sv) c

References

• “malady”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “malady”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

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Middle English

Noun

malady

1. Alternative form of maladie