Added 7 October 2026
evil
/ˈiːvəl/ adjective
In Latin: malus Wiktionary
adjective Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about evil at Wordnik → Where our words come from →
noun
-
Moral badness; wickedness; malevolence; the forces or behaviors that are the opposite or enemy of good.
The evils of society include murder and theft.
- Something which impairs the happiness of a being or deprives a being of any good; something which causes suffering of any kind to sentient beings; harm; injury; mischief.
- A malady or disease; especially in combination, as in king's evil, colt evil.
adverb
- wickedly, evilly, iniquitously
- injuriously, harmfully; in a damaging way.
-
badly, poorly; in an insufficient way.
It went evil with him.
Origin
From Middle English yvel, evel, ivel, uvel, from Old English yfel, from Proto-West Germanic *ubil, from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂up(h₁)élos, a deverbal derivative of *h₂wep(h₁)-, *h₂wop(h₁)- (“treat badly”). See -le for the supposed suffix. Alternatively from *upélos (“evil”, literally “going over or beyond (acceptable limits)”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo, *h₃ewp- (“down, up, over”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch euvel (“evil”), German übel (“bad, evil”), German Low German övel (“evil”), Luxembourgish iwwel (“queasy, nauseous; bad”), Gothic 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐍃 (ubils, “bad, evil”).
From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)