malevolent

English

Etymology

From Middle English *malevolent (suggested by Middle English malevolence), from Old French malivolent and Latin malevolentem, from male (“badly, wrongly”) + volens (“willing, wishing”), from velle (“to wish”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈlɛvələnt/

• Audio (Southern England):

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• Audio (US):

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Adjective

malevolent (comparative more malevolent, superlative most malevolent)

1. Having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others.

   Synonyms: maleficent, malevolent, sinister; see also Thesaurus:evil

   Antonym: benevolent

   • 2022 October 27, Simon Parkin, “README.txt by Chelsea Manning review – secrets and spies”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 October 2026:

     In Iraq the bullying continued. After she witnessed the death of a colleague, Manning felt how “with enough grief, adrenaline and fear”, war can turn anyone “amoral, even malevolent”.

2. Having an evil or harmful influence.
   • 2018 June 17, Barney Ronay, “Mexico’s Hirving Lozano stuns world champions Germany for brilliant win”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎^[2], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 5 August 2019:

     Vela, Javier Hernández and Lozano switched positions with a thrillingly malevolent sense of purpose.

Derived terms

• malevolently
• omnimalevolent
• unmalevolent

Related terms

• malevolence

English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *welh₁- (0 c, 51 e)

Translations

having or displaying ill will; wishing harm on others

• Afrikaans: kwaadwillig (af)
• Arabic: حَاقِد (ḥāqid), حَقُود (ḥaqūd)

  Hijazi Arabic: حاقد (ḥāgid), حَقُود (ḥagūd)

• Armenian: չարամիտ (hy) (čʻaramit)
• Azerbaijani: pisniyyətli, pis məqsədli, pisfikirli, qərəzli
• Belarusian: нядобразы́члівы (njadobrazýčlivy), нязы́члівы (njazýčlivy)
• Bengali: পরশ্রীকাতর (bn) (porosrikator)
• Bulgarian: недоброжела́телен (bg) (nedobroželátelen), зло́бен (bg) (zlóben)
• Catalan: malèvol (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 惡毒的 / 恶毒的 (zh) (èdú de)

• Czech: zlovolný, zlomyslný (cs), zlý (cs)
• Dutch: kwaadwillend (nl)
• Esperanto: malbonavida, malbonintenca, malica
• Estonian: pahatahtlik
• Finnish: pahansuopa (fi), pahantahtoinen (fi)
• French: malintentionné (fr), malveillant (fr), malévolent (fr) (rare), maléfique (fr), mauvais (fr)
• Galician: malévolo
• German: böswillig (de)
• Greek: μοχθηρός (el) (mochthirós), κακόβουλος (el) m (kakóvoulos)
• Hindi: द्वेषी (hi) (dveṣī)
• Indonesian: berniat jahat
• Irish: anchroíoch
• Italian: malintenzionato (it)
• Japanese: 邪悪な (ja) (じゃあくな, jaaku na)
• Korean: 사악하다 (ko) (saakhada)
• Macedonian: злонамерен (zlonameren)
• Malay: berniat jahat
• Malayalam: കുനിഷ്ഠൻ (ml) m (kuniṣṭhaṉ)
• Māori: kikokiko, ngākaukino
• Norman: dêvoulu
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: ondsinnet

• Old English: yfelwillende
• Persian: بدکامه (badkâme), بدخواه (fa) (badxâh)
• Polish: złowrogi (pl), wrogi (pl)
• Portuguese: malevolente (pt), malévolo (pt), mal-intencionado (pt)
• Romanian: rău intenționat
• Russian: недоброжела́тельный (ru) (nedobroželátelʹnyj), зло́бный (ru) (zlóbnyj), злонаме́ренный (ru) (zlonamérennyj) (of intentions), злора́дный (ru) (zlorádnyj) (spiteful, gloating)
• Slovak: zloprajný, zlovoľný
• Spanish: malévolo (es), malintencionado (es)
• Swedish: illvillig (sv), illasinnad (sv)
• Thai: ประสงค์ร้าย (bprà-sǒng-ráai), มุ่งร้าย (th) (mûng-ráai)
• Turkish: kötü amaçlı, kötü niyetli, kötücül (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: یامان (yaman)

• Ukrainian: зловмисний m (zlovmysnyj), зловтішний m (zlovtišnyj), недобрози́чливий (nedobrozýčlyvyj), нези́чливий (nezýčlyvyj)

having an evil or harmful influence

• Bulgarian: зловре́ден (bg) (zlovréden)
• Finnish: vahingollinen (fi)
• French: malveillant (fr), maléfique (fr)
• Irish: anchroíoch
• Japanese: マレフィック (marefikku)
• Polish: wrogi (pl), złowrogi (pl)
• Portuguese: malévolo (pt)
• Russian: зловре́дный (ru) (zlovrédnyj)