Roots of English : MAL - Bad , Evil , Wrong, ILL)

By Jyoti Bisht|Updated : March 7th, 2022

"Roots of English" is one of the easiest ways to learn many words with a single root word. Visual images related to the words will have a long-lasting impact and the pronunciation helps to utter the word appropriately. Today we are here with another article of our series. We hope that it will help you in enhancing your vocabulary!

 

The Root Word for today: MAL

Today we have taken 'MAL' as a ROOT which refers to something with a “badness". It has meaning - Bad, wrong, evil or ill.

Now with the help of this one root, you can come out with the conclusion of several other English words. Such as,

1) Malefactor:-

Pronunciation - maley-fac-tur

Meaning - a person who commits a crime or some other wrong.

Usage - The dictator of Iran was a merciless malefactor who tortured the citizens of the country for his fun.  

2) Malignant:-

Pronunciation - may-lig-nant

Meaning - evil in nature or effect

Usage - After the bombing by the police to control the protestors, everyone had to wear masks to avoid inhaling the malignant fumes of the chemical agents.

3) Maliferous

Pronunciation -  ma-lif-aras

Meaning - having an unhealthful effect/unsafe and perilous.

Usage -  As I have been there, I can tell you that the journey is maliferous, so make sure to have a first-aid kit with you

4) Maleficent:-

Pronunciation - maley-fis-ent

Meaning - causing or capable of producing evil or mischief; harmful or baleful

Usage - The chief minister of the state is a maleficent type who tries to divide the people on the name of religion.

5)Malediction:-

Pronunciation - maley-dik-shun

Meaning - an evil speech or curse upon someone or something/a magical word or phrase uttered with the intention of bringing about evil; a curse.

Usage - One after the other natural disasters have ripped apart the nation and it appears as if the country is under an unending malediction.

6) Malafide:-

Pronunciation -  mayla-fide

Meaning - in bad faith; with intent to deceive.

Usage - The judge gave the verdict that the school had acted mala fide in concealing the information.

7) Dismal: -

Pronunciation -  dis-mal

Meaning - causing a mood of gloom or depression/pitifully or disgracefully bad.

Usage - Our team ended the tournament with a dismal record of one win and five losses.

8) Malcontent : -

Pronunciation - mal-con-tent

Meaning - a person who is dissatisfied and rebellious/one who bears a grudge from a sense of grievance or thwarted ambition.

Usage - My aunt is such a malcontent that she complained about every dish served to her in our party.

9) Malady : -  

Pronunciation - malay-di

Meaning - a disease or ailment/a serious problem.

Usage -  Although the cricket player’s malady did not allow him to play, he still came to cheer his team.

10)Malice:

Pronunciation - mali-s

Meaning - the desire to harm someone; ill will, wrongful intention(especially as increasing the guilt of certain offences.)

Usage -  The critic’s malice for the actor was evident in the harsh review. 

11)Malpractice: 

Pronunciation - mal-practice

Meaning - improper, illegal, or negligent professional behaviour.

Usage - If Riya wins the malpractice case against the doctor who wrongly diagnosed her, she will receive a big amount of money.

Basic Knowledge related to Root Words of English

There are four types of Roots in English Language, which are -

  • GREEK ROOTS
  • GERMAN ROOTS
  • FRENCH ROOTS
  • LATIN ROOTS

Now if you learn these roots, you can figure out the meaning of hundreds of English language words without even knowing their exact meaning. Go through the basic questions related to roots below -

1.What is a root?

A root is the part of the word which gives instructions to a word.

2.How many parts is a word made of?

A word is made up of three parts.

For example – Unhappily

Here 'Un' is a prefix, 'happy' is the root and 'ly' is the suffix.

3.What is a Prefix?

PREFIX is a word, letter or number placed before another.

4.What is a Suffix?

SUFFIX is a letter or a group of letters added to the end of a word to change its meaning.

We hope this session will help you in Vocabulary Preparation. We will come back soon with our next session. Also, you can go through our previous articles from the list given below:

“Roots of English”

Related Articles:

The Root of Words-
Roots of English - 36
Study Notes - Roots of English
Roots of English: (Lud/ludi/lus)
Root Words of English: JUS/JUR/JUD Law & Justice
Roots of English: Claim/Clam I Declare/Shout/Speak Out

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