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FRENCH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

malin.

nocive, pernicious

5 characters2 syllables approx.Français language

Meaning & usage

adj/ma.lɛ̃/

  1. nocive, pernicious

    obsolete

  2. malignant

    une tumeur maligne

  3. malicious, sadistic (which likes to do or say hurtful things for fun)

    dated
    prendre un malin plaisir à faire quelque chose

  4. smart and quick-thinking, and often tricksterish; cunning, crafty

    informal
    malin comme un singe
    avoir l'air malin

  5. aggressive (of an animal); petulant (of a person)

    Quebec
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle French malin(g), backformation from Old French maligne m (12th c.), a borrowing from Latin malignus. Compare the same backformation in bénin and, on the other hand, the original common-gender form preserved in digne.

noun/ma.lɛ̃/

  1. shrewd person, smart person

    masculine
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle French malin(g), backformation from Old French maligne m (12th c.), a borrowing from Latin malignus. Compare the same backformation in bénin and, on the other hand, the original common-gender form preserved in digne.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.