mal

mal

1. (international standards) ISO 639-2 & ISO 639-3 language code for Malayalam.

• IPA^(key): /mæl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æl

Borrowed from French mal (“illness”). Doublet of malus.

mal (plural mals)

1. (only in set phrases) illness, affliction.

   a grand mal seizure

• (illness): grand mal, petit mal, mal de mer, mal du Suisse

• Mal

Clipping of malibu.

mal (plural mals)

1. (surfing) A longboard (type of surfboard).

• mini-mal

Clipping of malleolus.

mal (plural mals)

1. (medicine, informal) A malleolus.

   lateral mal

• ALM, AML, LAM, Lam, Lam., M.L.A., MLA, alm, lam

From Dutch mal, from Middle Dutch mal.

mal (attributive mal, comparative maller, superlative malste)

1. crazy

• mall
• malj

From Proto-Albanian *mala,[1] from Illyrian *mol-on. Vladimir Orel proposed Lithuanian malà (“land”) and Latvian mala (“bank, shore”) as cognates. Proto-Albanian *mal- reflecting an ancient Balkan toponym.[2][3] Preserved in patroynms, ethnonym malësor (“highlander, mountaineer”), in toponym (historical and ethnographic region) Malësia (north Albania and Montenegro). In Kosovo (Malishevë, Gjilan, Mališevo, Prizren), in Serbia (Maleševo (Golubac), Maleševo (Rekovac)) and the name of Maleshevo Mountain (North Macedonia and Bulgaria).[4] Gil'Ferding proposed Sanskrit मरु (marú, “wilderness, mountain, rock”) as a cognate. According to Michel Morvan a common pre-Indo-European substrate with Basque malda (“slope”) and malkor (“precipice”)[5] (cf. pre-Indo-European geonymic root *mal (*mel, *mol), Tamil மலை (malai, “hill, mountain”) and Malayalam മല (mala, “id”)).

La Piana and Huld suggested Old English molda (“forehead”) and Sanskrit मूर्धन् (mūrdhan, “head, top, summit”), both derived from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥Hdʰṓ. Also connected to Ancient Greek *μλωθρός (*mlōthrós), μέλαθρον (mélathron, “ridgepole”), βλαστάνω (blastánō, “to sprout, grow”). Compare also Ancient Greek βλωθρός (blōthrós, “lofty”), Avestan 𐬐𐬀-𐬨𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬜𐬋 (ka-mər^əδō, “demon's head”), with a semantic development from ‘head’ > ‘summit’, compare malë (“tongue tip, tree top”)) > ‘mountain’.

• IPA^(key): [mal] (Standard, Tosk)

mal m (plural male, definite mali, definite plural malet)

1. mount

   Mali i Korabit ― Mount Korab

2. mountain

   Synonym: bjeshkë

3. forest (Gheg)
4. large amount of something

   Kam marrë një mal me letra. ― I've recieved a lot of papers.

• majë

• Aromanian: mal, meal
• Romanian: mal (“shore”)

• (Western) IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

mal

1. to do

• 2007. The UCLA Phonetics Lab Archive. Los Angeles, CA: UCLA Department of Linguistics.

• malu

Cognate to Daco-Romanian mal. From Proto-Albanian *mala (“mountain”) (Albanian mal). Proto-Albanian *mal- reflecting an ancient Balkan toponym.[1][2][3][4] See Albanian mal (“mountain”) for more.

mal

1. shore
2. pile, heap

• meal

From Arabic مَال (māl, “property”).

• IPA^(key): [mɑɫ]

• Audio

  (file)

mal (definite accusative malı, plural mallar)

1. property

   Synonym: əmlak

2. goods, ware, commodity, product

   Synonyms: məhsul, (formal) əmtəə

   Çindən gətirilən mallar ― goods imported from China

3. (colloquial) cargo
4. cattle, livestock
5. cow

   Synonym: inək

6. beef (mostly in combination with ət (“meat”))

   mal əti ― beef

7. (colloquial, by extension) a dumb, dull person; an idiot

   Nə var mal kimi durmusan orada? ― Don't stand there like an idiot!

8. (colloquial, derogatory, by extension) a well-fed, plump woman

• “mal” in Obastan.com.

• IPA^(key): /ma˨˦/

From Proto-Tai *ʰmaːᴬ (“to come”). Cognate with Thai มา (maa), Northern Thai ᨾᩣ (ma), Lao ມາ (mā), Lü ᦙᦱ (maa), Ahom 𑜉𑜠 (ma), 𑜉𑜡 (mā), 𑜉𑜡𑜠 (māa), Zhuang maz.

mal

1. to come

From Proto-Tai *ʰmaːᴬ (“dog”). Cognate with Thai หมา, Lao ໝາ (mā), Lü ᦖᦱ (ṁaa), Shan မႃ (mǎa), Zhuang ma.

mal

1. dog

• duezmal

mal

1. water

• R. Blench, The Rukul language of Central Nigeria and its affinities (2006) (mentions this word in notes)

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈmal]
• Rhymes: -al

From Old Catalan mal, from Latin malus.

mal m (plural mals)

1. evil, bad

   Antonym: bé

2. illness

   Synonym: malaltia

• mal lleig

• malícia

From Old Catalan mal, from Latin male.

mal

1. badly, poorly

   Synonym: malament

   Antonym: bé

• anar a mal borràs
• malestar
• prendre mal

mal (feminine mala, masculine plural mals, feminine plural males)

1. bad, poor

   Synonym: dolent

   Antonym: bo

• a males
• mala herba
• malament

• “mal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mal”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “mal” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “mal” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Borrowed from Spanish mal, apocopic form of malo (“evil”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/, [ˈmal̪]

mal

1. (billiards) a foul

mal

1. (billiards) to commit a foul

From Middle High German māl, from Old High German māl, from Proto-West Germanic *māl, from Proto-Germanic *mēlą (“measurement; time; meal”). Cognate with German Mal, Mahl, English meal.

mal n

1. (Luserna) meal

• malzait

• “mal” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

From Arabic مال (māl, “property”).

mal

1. article, product
2. cattle, livestocks

• “mal”, in Luğatçıq (in Russian)

• mul

From Latin malus.

mal

1. evil, harm

mal

1. imperative of male

From Old French modle, an old (11th century) borrowing from Latin modulus (“measure”).

• Rhymes: -ɑl

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /mɑl/

mal f (plural mallen, diminutive malletje n)

1. mold, cast (device to help creating shapes)

• → Papiamentu: malchi, maltsje (from the diminutive)

From Middle Dutch mal, of uncertain origin. Cognate with German malle. Possibly related to French mal (“bad”) or Dutch malen (“to grind, crush”) in the sense "broken, twisted."

mal (comparative maller, superlative malst)

1. foolish, crazy, lacking common sense

The adjective mal always refers to an aspect of a thing or person. It is the adjective form of the noun mallerd. For other senses, dwaas, dom and gek are used.

• mallerd

• Afrikaans: mal

• van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “mal1”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

• lam

• IPA^(key): /mal/

• audio

  (file)

From Old French mal, from Latin malus, possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“bad, wrong”). Near cognates include Portuguese mal, Italian male and Spanish malo.

mal m (plural maux)

1. (as in the phrase: avoir du mal) trouble, difficulty

   Synonyms: problème, emmerde, misère, difficulté

   J’ai du mal à m’imaginer ça. ― I have trouble imagining that.

2. pain

   Synonym: douleur

   J’ai mal à la tête. ― I have a headache. (literally, “I have pain at the head.”)

   • 1986, “Il était une fois … une maison des musiciens [There Once Was… a House of Musicians]”, in Il était une fois … une petite grenouille [There Once Was… a Little Frog] (fiction), Paris: CLE International:

     Aïe, j’ai mal au bras !
     Ouille, j’ai mal aux dents! Et toi, le lit, tu n’as pas mal aux pieds ?
     Non, mais j’ai mal à la tête.
     Moi, j’ai mal aux oreilles !

     Argh, my arms hurt!
     Oww, my teeth hurt! How about you, bed, don't your legs hurt?
     No, it's my head that hurts.
     As for me, my ears hurt!

3. evil

   Le philosophe abordait de grandes questions du bon et du mal. ― The philosopher discussed broad questions of good and evil.

4. damage, harm

   Synonyms: tort, dommage

   Le mal est fait. ― The damage is done.

• malice

• → English: mal

From Old French, from Latin male.

mal

1. badly

   C’est mal fait. ― It's done badly.

mal (feminine male, masculine plural maux, feminine plural males)

1. (in set phrases and limited constructions) bad

   bon an, mal an ― good year, bad year

   bon gré, mal gré ― willy-nilly (literally, “good will, bad will”)

   Il est mal de [infinitive] ― It’s wrong to [infinitive]

   C’est mal de [infinitive] ― It’s wrong to [infinitive]

• mauvais
• méchant
• vilain
• laid
• merdique (vulgar slang)

• “mal”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• AML

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/ [ˈmɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: mal

From Old Galician-Portuguese mal, from Latin male.

mal

1. badly

   Antonym: ben

From Old Galician-Portuguese mal, from Latin malum.

mal m (plural males)

1. misfortune
2. bad; evil
3. sickness; desease

mal m sg

1. (before the noun) Apocopic form of malo

Peasants using males ("flails") to thresh cereal

Attested since circa 1300 (máále), from Latin manualis (“manual”). Cognate with Portuguese mangual.

• malle, mallo, manle, manlle

mal m (plural males)

1. flail
   • c. 1300, R. Martínez López, editor, General Estoria. Versión gallega del siglo XIV, Oviedo: Archivum, page 271:

     cõmo faz a lyma ao ferro, et a fornaz ao ouro que o purga et esmera et o faz puro et paresçe mellor, et cõmo faz outrosi o máále áá messe que a degrana em çeueyra et parte a palla do graão que e o mellor

     as the file does to iron, and the furnace to gold, that purges and cleans it and makes it pure and looks better; and also as the flail does to the harvest, that threshes it into sustenance and parts the straw and the grain, which is the best part

   • 1474, Antonio López Ferreiro, editor, Galicia Histórica. Colección diplomática, Santiago: Tipografía Galaica, page 67:

     Iten, preçaron hun maal en tres maravedis

     Item, they appraised a flail in three coins

2. handle of the flail

   Synonyms: mango, mangueira, moca

• “mal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “maal” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “mal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “mal” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “mal” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

From the noun Mal (“time”). Partly shortened from einmal, which is also derived from the noun.

• IPA^(key): /maːl/ (standard)
• IPA^(key): /ma/ (colloquial)

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: Mahl, Mal, mahl
• Rhymes: -aːl

mal

1. times (indicating multiplication of two numbers)

   sechs mal sieben ist zweiundvierzig

   six times seven is forty-two

2. (informal) Alternative form of einmal (“sometime, ever, once”), may serve to introduce a new information.

   Wenn du in Köln bist, musst du mal bei deiner Tante anrufen.

   When you’re in Cologne, you must call your aunt sometime.

   Ich geh mal zum Kaffeestand.

   I’m off to the coffee stall.

   (going to the coffee stall was not discussed at the moment)

3. (informal) Softening a sentence, thus making a request or command more polite. By extension, indicating a command or request.

   Haben Sie mal Feuer?

   Do you have a lighter [please]?

   (can not imply that the asker is offering his lighter)

   Haste Feuer?

   D'ya have fire?

   (may imply that the asker is offering his lighter)

   Du musst mal deine Tante anrufen.

   You have to call your aunt.

   (urging to do it now or very soon)

• Malrechnung
• schon mal (schomma)

mal

1. singular imperative of malen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of malen

• “mal (Adverb)” in Duden online
• “mal (Konjunktion)” in Duden online
• “mal (Partikel)” in Duden online
• “mal” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Portuguese mal. Cognate with Kabuverdianu mal.

mal

1. bad

• mau

• IPA^(key): [maːl]
• Rhymes: -aːl

From mala (“to purr”).

mal n (genitive singular mals, no plural)

1. purr

See malur.

mal

1. indefinite accusative singular of malur

• IPA^(key): [ˈmal]
• Hyphenation: mal

From Malay mal.

mal (first-person possessive malku, second-person possessive malmu, third-person possessive malnya)

1. head

   Synonym: kepala

2. top (of kris)

   Synonym: ganja

3. bottom (of a blade)

   Synonym: pangkal

From Malay mal, from Arabic مَال (māl).

mal (first-person possessive malku, second-person possessive malmu, third-person possessive malnya)

1. treasure

   Synonyms: khazanah, harta benda

2. synonym of dana

From Dutch mal (“mold, cast”), from Old French modle, from Latin modulus (“measure”). Doublet of modulus.

mal (first-person possessive malku, second-person possessive malmu, third-person possessive malnya)

1. mold, cast.

   Synonym: cetakan

2. pattern.

   Synonym: pola

From English mall.

mal (first-person possessive malku, second-person possessive malmu, third-person possessive malnya)

1. shopping centre, mall.

   Synonyms: plaza, pusat perbelanjaan

• “mal” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From Latin malus.

mal (comparative plus mal, superlative le plus mal)

1. bad
2. evil

mal (comparative plus mal, superlative le plus mal)

1. badly, poorly
2. wrongfully

mal (plural males)

1. bad, badness, something bad
2. evil
3. illness
4. pain, ache

mal m (apocopated)

1. Apocopic form of male

From Portuguese mal.

mal

1. bad

• mau

mal

1. inflection of malt:
   1. second-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Akin to Italian male, from Latin malus.

mal

1. bad

• IPA^(key): /māl/

mal

1. heart

• Blench, Robert; Bulkaam, Michael (2021) An Introduction to Mantsi, a South Bauchi language of Central Nigeria. University of Cambridge.

mal

1. Alternative form of male

mal

1. Alternative form of male

From Old French mal.

mal m (plural maulx)

1. bad act

• French: mal
  • → English: mal

mal m (feminine singular male or malle, masculine plural maulx, feminine plural males or malles)

1. bad; evil

• French: mal

mal

1. tax

Borrowed from Malay mahal. Compare Bikol Central mahal and Tagalog mahal.

mal

1. expensive

   Antonym: barato

From Old French mal, from Latin male.

mal

1. (Guernsey) badly

mal

1. (Guernsey) bad

Possibly from Arabic مَال (māl, “property, possesion; estate”).

mal f

1. home, house

From Dutch mal.

mal m (definite singular malen, indefinite plural maler, definite plural malene)

1. a template

mal

1. imperative of male

• “mal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

From Dutch mal.

mal m (definite singular malen, indefinite plural malar, definite plural malane)

1. a template

mal

1. imperative of mala

• “mal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

• maal

From Proto-Germanic *mailą.

• IPA^(key): /mɑːl/

māl n

1. mole (spot on the skin)
2. mark, spot

• Middle English: mal, mole, mool
  • English: mole
  • Scots: mail, mold

From Latin male.

mal

1. evilly
2. badly; poorly

• Middle French: mal
  • French: mal

From Latin malus.

mal oblique singular, m (oblique plural maus or max or mals, nominative singular maus or max or mals, nominative plural mal)

1. evil
2. pain, suffering

• Middle French: mal
  • French: mal
    • → English: mal

mal m (oblique and nominative feminine singular male, comparative peior, superlative peior)

1. bad (undesirable; not good)

• Middle French: mal
  • French: mal

From Latin male (“badly; wrongly”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/
• Rhymes: -al

mal

1. badly

• Fala: mal
• Galician: mal
• Portuguese: mal (see there for further descendants)

From Latin malus. Gallo-Romance cognate with Old French mal.

mal

1. bad (negative)
2. bad (evil)

• Occitan: mal

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “malus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 6/1: Mabile–Mephitis, pages 123–128

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /mal/

mal f (Perso-Arabic spelling مل)

1. goats

i-decl (Obl): -í

• Liljegren, Henrik, Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎, Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

• Homophone: mau (Brazil)
• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: mal

From Old Galician-Portuguese mal, from Latin male (“badly; wrongly”).

• mar (eye dialect spelling, representing Caipira Portuguese)

mal (comparable, comparative pior)

1. badly (in a faulty, dysfunctional or incorrect manner)

   O carro está a funcionar/funcionando bem mal.

   The car is running pretty badly.

   (O) João fala inglês mal.

   John speaks English badly.

2. (preceding verbs) hardly; barely

   Ele mal consegue estudar com todo este barulho.

   He can hardly study with all this noise.

3. wrong (incorrect)

   A resposta está mal.

   The answer is wrong.

4. unfavourably (in an unfavourable manner)

   Penso mal de ti.

   I think unfavourably of you.

   Ele fala mal de ti.

   He speaks unfavourably of you.

5. (in compounds) evilly

   mal-assombrado ― haunted (literally, “evilly-shadowed”)

   mal-agourado ― cursed (literally, “evilly-foreboded”)

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mal.

• malamente, malmente

mal

1. have/had just; have/had barely

   Mal tinha saído quando a encontrei.

   I had barely gone out when I found her.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:mal.

From Latin malus.

mal m (plural males)

1. (uncountable) evil (malevolent forces or behaviour)

   As forças do mal cercaram o castelo.

   The forces of evil sieged the castle.

2. harm

   Ela não fez por mal.

   She meant no harm.

   Não faz mal.

   No problem. (It does not matter.)

3. malady (any ailment or disease, especially a lingering one)

   mal de Parkinson

   Parkinson's disease

   Males como a SIDA e pneumonia são mortais.

   Illnesses such as AIDS and pneumonia are deadly.

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:mal.

• (sickness or syndrome): maladia

mal

1. (Brazil) Misspelling of mau.

• Guinea-Bissau Creole: mal
• Kabuverdianu: mal

Cognate to Aromanian mal and meal. From Proto-Albanian *mala (“mountain”) (Standard Albanian mal).[1][2][3][4] See Albanian mal (“mountain”) for more.

mal n (plural maluri)

1. shore

From Proto-Slavic *malъ, from Proto-Indo-European *moh₁los.

• IPA^(key): /mâːl/

mȃl (definite mȃlī, comparative mȁnjī, Cyrillic spelling ма̑л)

1. small

• màlen

• “mal” in Hrvatski jezični portal

• IPA^(key): [mal]

mal

1. masculine singular l-participle of mať

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/ [ˈmal]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: mal

Apocopic form of malo, from Latin malus, possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mel- (“bad, wrong”).

mal m (apocopate, standard form malo)

1. (before the noun) Apocopic form of malo bad; evil
2. amiss, awry, off, wrong

   Me di cuenta de que algo estaba mal.

   I realized something was amiss.

• Mal is only used before a masculine singular noun. In other positions, malo is used instead.

• maleza
• malicia

From Latin male.

mal (comparative peor)

1. badly, poorly, ill

   No hables mal de los muertos.

   Don't speak ill of the dead.

   Qué mal.

   Too bad. / That's too bad.

2. awry, amiss, wrong, wrongly

   Tu plan maestro salió mal bastante rápido

   Your master plan went awry pretty quickly.

3. hard (functions as an adverb in Spanish but translates as an adjective in English)

   Estoy pasándolo mal con todo ahora mismo.

   I'm just having a hard time with everything right now.

mal m (plural males)

1. evil, harm; a bad thing or situation

   de mal en peor ― from bad to worse

2. disease, illness, ailment

   ... le curaremos, si es que su mal tiene cura...

   ... we shall cure him, if his ailment has a cure...

   (Cervantes, Quijote, ch. 23)

3. worse (substantive)

   para bien o para mal ― for better or for worse

• “mal”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

• IPA^(key): /mɑːl/

• audio (Gotland; "en mal"

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑːl

From Old Norse mǫlr, from Proto-Germanic *malwan, from Proto-Indo-European *molH-(y)o-. See also Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌻𐍉 (malō) and German Milbe.

mal c

1. moth
2. wels catfish (Silurus glanis)

• fjäril c
• larv c

• mal in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• mal in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• mal in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

mal

1. inflection of mala:
   1. imperative
   2. present indicative

• LMA, alm, lam

From Ottoman Turkish مال (mal), from Arabic مَال (māl, “property”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɫ/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mal

mal (definite accusative malı, plural mallar or (dated) emval)

1. cattle
2. goods, property
3. asset
4. (economy) merchandise
5. (law) goods, commodity
6. (colloquial, derogatory) (no equivalent expression; likely) an expendable or ignorable stupid and annoying person, douche, prick
7. (slang, vulgar) a prostitute
8. (slang) heroin

• emval

• → Albanian: mall

• “mal”, in Turkish dictionaries, Türk Dil Kurumu

Borrowed from Malay mahal. Compare Bikol Central mahal and Tagalog mahal.

mal

1. expensive

   Antonym: barato

• IPA^(key): /ˈmaɾ/

mal

1. bird

mal

1. thigh

• Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 45