Mal in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Mal

You can make 6 words from 'mal' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 3 letters words from 'mal'
• 2 letters words from 'mal'

3 letters words from 'mal'

LAM 5

MAL 5

2 letters words from 'mal'

AL 2	AM 4
LA 2	MA 4

Definitions and meaning of mal

mal

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mæl/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

mal (plural mals)

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

Derived terms

• (illness): grand mal

Related terms

See also

• Mal

Etymology 2

Clipping of malibu.

Noun

mal (plural mals)

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

Etymology 3

Clipping of malleolus.

Noun

mal (plural mals)

1. (medicine, informal) A malleolus.

Derived terms

Anagrams

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

---

Albanian

Alternative forms

• mall
• malj

Etymology

Illyrian origin; from Proto-Albanian *mala, from Illyrian *mol-on. Vladimir Orel proposed Lithuanian land and Latvian mala (“bank, shore”) as cognates. Proto-Albanian *mal- reflecing on ancient Balkan toponym Illyrian *Maluntum/*Malontum, *Dimallum,*Malontina, *Maloventum and Dacian Maluesensis. 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). 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”) (cf. pre-indo-european geonymic root *mal (*mel, *mol); Dravidian 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 *ml̥Hdʰṓ. Also connected to Ancient Greek *μλωθρός (*mlōthrós), μέλαθρον (mélathron, “ridgepole”), βλαστάνω (blastánō, “to sprout, grow”). Cf. 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’.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mal/ (Standard, Tosk)

Noun

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

1. mount
2. mountain

   Synonym: bjeshkë

Declension

Derived terms

Descendants

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

Related terms

• majë

References

---

Aleut

Pronunciation

• (Western) IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

Verb

mal

1. to do

References

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

---

Aromanian

Alternative forms

• malu

Etymology

Cognate to Daco-Romanian mal. From Proto-Albanian *mala (“mountain”) (Albanian mal). Proto-Albanian *mal- reflecting on ancient Balkan toponymy Illyrian *Maluntum/*Malontum, *Dimallum,*Malontina, *Maloventum and Dacian Maluesensis. See Albanian mal (“mountain”) for more.

Noun

mal

1. shore
2. pile, heap

Related terms

• meal

References

---

Azerbaijani

Etymology

From Arabic مَال‎ (māl, “property”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mɑɫ]

Noun

mal (definite accusative malı, plural mallar)

1. property

   Synonym: əmlak

2. goods, ware, commodity, product

   Synonyms: məhsul, (formal) əmtəə

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

   Synonym: inək

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

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

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

Declension

---

Bouyei

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma˨˦/

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.

Verb

mal

1. to come

Derived terms

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. dog

Synonyms

• duezmal

Derived terms

---

Cara

Noun

mal

1. water

References

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

---

Catalan

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

From Old Occitan mal, from Latin malus.

Noun

mal m (plural mals)

1. evil, bad

   Antonym: bé

2. illness

   Synonym: malaltia

Related terms

• malícia

Etymology 2

From Old Occitan mal, from Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. badly, poorly

   Synonym: malament

   Antonym: bé

Derived terms

• anar a mal borràs
• malestar
• prendre mal

Adjective

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

1. bad, poor

   Synonym: dolent

   Antonym: bo

Derived terms

• mala herba
• malament

Further reading

• “mal” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “mal” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “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.

---

Cebuano

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: mal

Noun

mal

1. (billiards) a foul

Verb

mal

1. (billiards) to commit a foul

---

Cimbrian

Etymology

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.

Noun

mal n

1. (Luserna) meal

Related terms

• malzait

References

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

---

Dalmatian

Alternative forms

• mul

Etymology

From Latin malus.

Noun

mal

1. evil, harm

---

Danish

Verb

mal

1. imperative of male

---

Dutch

Etymology 1

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

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɑl
• IPA^(key): /mɑl/

Noun

mal f (plural mallen, diminutive malletje n)

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

Etymology 2

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

Adjective

mal (comparative maller, superlative malst)

1. foolish, crazy, lacking common sense

Usage notes

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.

Inflection

Derived terms

• mallerd

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• lam

---

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mal/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

mal m (plural maux)

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

   Synonyms: problème, emmerde

2. pain
3. evil

Derived terms

Related terms

• malice

Descendants

• → English: mal

Etymology 2

From Old French, from Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. badly

Adjective

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

1. (in set phrases and limited constructions) bad

Synonyms

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

Derived terms

Anagrams

• AML

Further reading

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

---

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

Etymology 1

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese mal, from Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. badly

   Antonym: ben

Etymology 2

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese mal, from Latin malum.

Noun

mal m (plural males)

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

Etymology 3

Adjective

mal m sg

1. (before the noun) Apocopic form of malo

Etymology 4

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

Alternative forms

• malle, mallo, manle, manlle

Noun

mal m (plural males)

1. flail
   • c1300, R. Martínez López (ed.), 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 (ed.), 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

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 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.

---

German

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

Adverb

mal

1. times (indicating multiplication of two numbers)

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

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

Derived terms

• Malrechnung
• schon mal (schomma)

Verb

mal

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

Further reading

• “mal” in Duden online

---

Guinea-Bissau Creole

Etymology

From Portuguese mal. Cognate with Kabuverdianu mal.

Adjective

mal

1. bad

Related terms

• mau

---

Icelandic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [maːl]
• Rhymes: -aːl

Etymology 1

From mala (“to purr”).

Noun

mal n (genitive singular mals, no plural)

1. purr

Declension

Etymology 2

See malur.

Noun

mal

1. indefinite accusative singular of malur

---

Interlingua

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

---

Italian

Noun

mal m (invariable)

1. Apocopic form of male

---

Kabuverdianu

Etymology

From Portuguese mal.

Adjective

mal

1. bad

Related terms

• mau

---

Latvian

Verb

mal

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

---

Lombard

Etymology

Akin to Italian male, from Latin malus.

Adjective

mal

1. bad

---

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French mal.

Noun

mal m (plural maulx)

1. bad act

Descendants

• French: mal
  • → English: mal

Adjective

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

1. bad; evil

Descendants

• French: mal

---

Middle Welsh

Noun

mal

1. tax

---

Norman

Etymology

From Old French mal, from Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. (Guernsey) badly

Adjective

mal

1. (Guernsey) bad

---

Northern Kurdish

Noun

mal f

1. home, house

---

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology 1

From Dutch mal.

Noun

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

1. a template

Etymology 2

Verb

mal

1. imperative of male

References

• “mal” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

---

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

From Dutch mal.

Noun

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

1. a template

Etymology 2

Verb

mal

1. imperative of mala

References

• “mal” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

---

Old English

Alternative forms

• maal

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *mailą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑːl/

Noun

māl n

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

Declension

Descendants

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

---

Old French

Etymology 1

From Latin male.

Adverb

mal

1. evilly
2. badly; poorly

Descendants

• Middle French: mal
  • French: mal

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

Descendants

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

Adjective

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

1. bad (undesirable; not good)

Descendants

• Middle French: mal
  • French: mal

---

Old Occitan

Etymology

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

Adjective

mal

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

Descendants

• Catalan: mal
• Occitan: mal

References

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

---

Old Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin male (“badly; wrongly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmal/

Adverb

mal

1. badly

Descendants

• Fala: mal
• Galician: mal
• Portuguese: mal, mar
  • Guinea-Bissau Creole: mal
  • Kabuverdianu: mal

---

Phalura

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mal/

Noun

mal f (Perso-Arabic spelling مل)

1. goats

Inflection

i-decl (Obl): -í

References

• Liljegren, Henrik; Haider, Naseem (2011) Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[4], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN

---

Portuguese

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

Alternative forms

• mar (eye dialect spelling, representing Caipira Portuguese)

Adverb

mal (comparatives mais mal, pior superlative o mais mal)

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

2. (preceding verbs) hardly; barely

3. wrong (incorrect)

4. unfavourably (in an unfavourable manner)

5. (in compounds) evilly

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mal.

Synonyms

• malamente, malmente

Conjunction

mal

1. have/had just; have/had barely

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mal.

Etymology 2

From Latin malus.

Noun

mal m (plural males)

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

2. harm

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

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:mal.

Synonyms

• (sickness or syndrome): maladia

Derived terms

Related terms

Adjective

mal

1. (Brazil) Misspelling of mau.

Descendants

• Guinea-Bissau Creole: mal
• Kabuverdianu: mal

---

Romanian

Etymology

Cognate to Aromanian mal, and meal. From Proto-Albanian *mala (“mountain”) (Standard Albanian mal). See Albanian mal (“mountain”) for more.

Noun

mal n (plural maluri)

1. shore

Declension

References

---

Serbo-Croatian

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

Declension

Related terms

• màlen

---

Slovak

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [mal]

Participle

mal

1. masculine singular l-participle of mať

---

Spanish

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

Adjective

mal m (apocopate, standard form malo)

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

Usage notes

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

Derived terms

Related terms

• maleza
• malicia

Descendants

• Papiamentu: malu

Etymology 2

From Latin male.

Adverb

mal (comparative peor)

1. badly, poorly, ill

2. awry, amiss, wrong, wrongly

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

Derived terms

Noun

mal m (plural males)

1. evil, harm; a bad thing or situation

2. disease, illness, ailment

3. worse (substantive)

Derived terms

---

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɑːl/

Etymology 1

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

Noun

mal c

1. moth
2. wels catfish (Silurus glanis)

Declension

See also

• fjäril c
• larv c

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

mal

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

Anagrams

• LMA, alm, lam

---

Turkish

Etymology

From Arabic مَال‎ (māl, “property”).

Pronunciation

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

Noun

mal (definite accusative malı, plural mallar)

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

Declension

Descendants

• → Albanian: mall

Further reading

• mal in Turkish dictionaries at Türk Dil Kurumu

---

Westrobothnian

Etymology

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

Noun

mal m

1. marten (mammal)

---

Zou

Noun

mal

1. thigh

References

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

Source: wiktionary.org

• (French) pain, sickness.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)