malfunction

English

WOTD – 7 March 2008

Etymology

A malfunctioning electronic display at Bras Basah MRT Station in Singapore

From mal- (“bad, incorrect”) + function

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌmælˈfʌŋk.ʃən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkʃən

Noun

malfunction (plural malfunctions)

1. faulty functioning
2. failure to function

Derived terms

• wardrobe malfunction

Translations

faulty functioning

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 故障 (zh) (gùzhàng)

• Dutch: slechte werking f
• Esperanto: malfunkciado
• Finnish: toimintahäiriö, virhetoiminta
• French: défaut de fonctionnement m
• Galician: mal funcionamento m
• German: Fehlfunktion f, Funktionsstörung f
• Greek: δυσλειτουργία (el) f (dysleitourgía)
• Italian: malfunzionamento (it)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 故障 (ja) (こしょう, koshō)
• Korean: 고장 (ko) (gojang)
• Polish: wadliwe działanie n
• Portuguese: mau funcionamento m, funcionamento defeituoso m
• Russian: неиспра́вность (ru) f (neisprávnostʹ), сбой (ru) m (sboj)
• Spanish: funcionamiento defectuoso m, malfuncionamiento m
• Tagalog: salang-kimot, pagsalang-kimot
• Turkish: arıza (tr)
• Vietnamese: trục trặc (vi)

failure to function

• Dutch: stuk zijn n, storing (nl) f
• Finnish: toimintahäiriö
• French: défaut de fonctionnement m
• Galician: avaría (gl) f
• German: Fehlfunktion f, Funktionsstörung f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: δυσλειτουργία (el) f (dysleitourgía)
• Italian: malfunzionamento (it)
• Polish: awaria (pl) f
• Portuguese: não-funcionamento m
• Russian: поло́мка (ru) f (polómka)

Verb

malfunction (third-person singular simple present malfunctions, present participle malfunctioning, simple past and past participle malfunctioned)

1. to function improperly

   She told him the machine was poorly built, but they both knew that she was the one who had malfunctioned.

2. to fail to function

Translations

to function improperly

• Finnish: toimia huonosti
• German: nicht funktionieren
• Polish: wadliwie działać
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Turkish: arızalanmak (tr)
• ǃXóõ: ǁʻàa

to fail to function

• German: nicht funktionieren
• Polish: nie działać
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• ǃXóõ: ǁʻàa