# bad

> English word · Adjective · IPA /bæd/ · frequency rank #270

## Definitions
1. Of low quality.
2. Inaccurate; incorrect
3. Unfavorable; negative; not good.
4. Not suitable or fitting.
5. Not appropriate, of manners etc.
6. Harmful, especially unhealthy; liable to cause health problems.
7. Sickly, unhealthy, unwell.
8. The injured or weak one of a pair of body parts, where the other one is healthy.
9. Not behaving; behaving badly; misbehaving; mischievous or disobedient.
10. Tricky; stressful; unpleasant.
11. Evil; wicked.
12. Faulty; not functional.
13. Spoiled, rotten, overripe.
14. Malodorous; foul.
15. False; counterfeit; illegitimate.
16. Unskilled; of limited ability; not good.
17. Of poor physical appearance.
18. Severe, urgent.
19. Regretful, guilty, or ashamed.
20. Vulgar, obscene, or blasphemous.
21. Not worth it.

## Etymology
From Middle English bad, badde (“wicked, evil, depraved”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps a shortening of Old English bæddel (“hermaphrodite”) (for loss of -el compare Middle English muche from Old English myċel, and Middle English wenche from Old English wenċel), or at least related to it and/or to bǣ̆dan (“to defile”), compare Old High German pad (“hermaphrodite”).
Alternatively, perhaps a loan from Old Norse into Middle English, compare Norwegian bad (“effort, trouble, fear”, neuter noun), East Danish bad (“damage, destruction, fight”, neuter noun), from the Proto-Germanic noun *badą, whence also Proto-Germanic *badōną (“to frighten”), Old Saxon undarbadōn (“to frighten”), Norwegian Nynorsk bada (“to weigh down, press”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰedʰ- (“to bend, press, push, oppress”).

## Easily confused with
- **be** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-be)
- **by** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-by)
- **BC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bc)
- **bi** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bi)
- **BS** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bs)
- **bo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bo)
- **br** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-br)
- **Bt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bt)
- **BB** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bb)
- **BP** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bp)
- **bf** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bf)
- **bd** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bd)
- **BL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bl)
- **BM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bm)
- **bn** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bn)
- **BG** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bg)
- **BJ** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bj)
- **BW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bw)
- **BH** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bh)
- **BX** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/bad-vs-bx)

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/bad