Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Evil; disease.
  • noun A prefix of Latin origin, through French (equivalent to dys- or caco- of Greek origin), meaning ‘bad,’ and implying usually imperfection or deficiency, and often simply a negative, as in malodor, a bad odor, malfeasance, bad- or wrong-doing, malformation, imperfect shape, maladroit, not adroit, malcontent, not content, etc. The prefix in this form occurs only in words taken from the French, or formed upon the analogies of such.
  • noun An abbreviation
  • noun of Malachi, a book of the Old Testament;
  • noun of Malayan.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun only in set phrases Illness, affliction.
  • noun surfing A longboard (type of surfboard).

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French mal ("illness").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Shortening of malibu

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word mal.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.