mal

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French mal (“illness”).

Etymology 2

Shortening of malibu.

Anagrams

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

Alternative forms

• mall
• malj

Etymology

Uncertain. There have been several hypotheses, including:

• Illyrian origin, from Illyrian *mol-on (as in the ethnonym Molossian and toponyms Dimallum, Malontum, Malontina and Malesheva) as a substrate (compare also Daco-Romanian mal (“shore”) and Aromanian mal (“shore”)).
• Proto-Albanian *mala, from Proto-Indo-European *ml̥Hdʰo- (compare Old English molda (“forehead”), Ancient Greek βλωθρός (blōthrós, “lofty”), Avestan 𐬐𐬀-𐬨𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬜𐬋‎ (ka-mərəδō, “demon's head”)) with a semantic development from ‘head’ > ‘summit’ (compare malë (“tongue tip, tree top”)) > ‘mountain’.
• A common substrate with Basque malda (“slope”) and malkor (“precipice”).^[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mal]

Noun

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

1. mount
2. mountain

References

Pronunciation

• (Western) IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

Verb

mal

1. to do

References

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

Alternative forms

• malu

Etymology

Possibly from Albanian mal or related to it as a paleo-Balkanic substrate term. Compare Daco-Romanian mal.

Noun

mal

1. shore
2. pile, heap

Etymology 1

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 (maa), 𑜉𑜡𑜠 (maaa), Zhuang maz.

Etymology 2

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

Noun

mal

1. water

References

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mal/
• Rhymes: -al

Etymology 1

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin malus.

Noun

mal m (plural mals)

1. evil, bad
2. illness

Etymology 2

From Old Occitan mal, from Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. badly, poorly

Adjective

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

1. bad, poor

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: mal

Noun

mal

1. (billiards) a foul

Verb

mal

1. (billiards) to commit a foul

Alternative forms

• mul

Etymology

From Latin malus.

Noun

mal

1. evil, harm

Verb

mal

1. imperative of male

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑl

• audio

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /mɑl/

Noun

mal f (plural mallen, diminutive malletje n)

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

Adjective

mal (comparative maller, superlative malst)

1. funny, crazy, lacking common sense

Anagrams

• lam

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mal/

• audio

  (file)

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

From Old French, from Latin male.

See also

• pas mal
• malade
• maladie
• malaise
• mal-aimé
• maladroit
• malheur
• malfaisant

Anagrams

• AML

Further reading

• “mal” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

Etymology 1

From Old Portuguese mal, from Latin male.

Etymology 2

From Latin malum.

Etymology 3

Etymology 4

Peasants using males ("flails") to thresh cereal

1474. From former maal, from Latin manualis (“manual”). Cognate with Portuguese mangual. Alternative forms include malle, manle, manlle, mallo.

References

• “mal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “maal” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “mal” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “mal” in Santamarina, Antón (coord.): Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
• “mal” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

• Audio

  (file)

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

Adverb

mal

1. times; indicating multiplication of two numbers

   sechs mal sieben ist zweiundvierzig

   six times seven is forty-two — 6 × 7 = 42

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.)

Verb

mal

1. Imperative singular of malen.
2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of malen.

Further reading

• mal in Duden online

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [maːl]
• Rhymes: -aːl

Etymology 1

From mala (“to purr”).

Etymology 2

See malur.

Etymology

From Latin malus.

Adjective

mal (comparative plus mal, superlative le plus mal)

1. bad
2. evil

Adverb

mal (comparative plus mal, superlative le plus mal)

1. badly, poorly
2. wrongfully

Noun

mal (plural males)

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

Noun

mal m (invariable)

1. Apocopic form of male

Noun

mal f

1. home, house

Verb

mal

1. 2nd person singular present indicative form of malt
2. 2nd person singular imperative form of malt

Etymology

From Old French mal.

Noun

mal m (plural maulx)

1. bad act

Adjective

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

1. bad; evil

Etymology

From Old French mal, from Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. (Guernsey) badly

Adjective

mal

1. (Guernsey) bad

Etymology 1

From Dutch mal.

Etymology 2

References

• “mal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Etymology 1

From Dutch mal.

Noun

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

1. a template

Verb

mal

1. imperative of mala

References

• “mal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Adjective

mal

1. bad

Etymology 1

From Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. evilly
2. badly; poorly

Etymology 2

From Latin malus.

Noun

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

1. evil
2. pain, suffering

Adjective

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

1. bad (undesirable; not good)

Etymology

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

Adjective

mal

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

References

• von Wartburg, Walther (1928-2002), “malus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German)

Etymology

From Latin male (“badly; wrongly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

Adverb

mal

1. badly

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /maw/
  • Homophone: mau
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈmaɫ/
• Rhymes: -aw

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

From Latin malus.

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly a substratum term, perhaps from a Dacian *mal- or other Paleo-Balkanic source. Probably appearing in the name of the province Dacia Maluensis. Compare Aromanian mal, meal. Compare also the related Albanian mal.

Noun

mal n (plural maluri)

1. shore

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mâːl/

Adjective

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

1. small

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mäl], /mal/
• Rhymes: -al

Etymology 1

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

Etymology 2

From Latin male.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑːl/

• audio

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

mal c

1. moth
2. wels catfish (Silurus glanis)

Verb

mal

1. imperative of mala.
2. present tense of mala.

Etymology

From Arabic مَال‎ (māl, “property”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɑɫ/
• Hyphenation: mal

Noun

mal (definite accusative malı, plural mallar)

1. goods, property
2. asset
3. (economy) merchandise
4. (law) goods, commodity
5. (colloquial, pejorative) a stupid and annoying person, douche, prick
6. (slang, vulgar) a prostitute
7. (slang) heroin

Further reading

• mal in Turkish dictionaries at Türk Dil Kurumu

Etymology

From Old Norse mǫrðr, from Proto-Germanic *marþuz.

Noun

mal m

1. marten (mammal)