malevolence
/məˈlɛvələns/noun
malevolence is spelled M-A-L-E-V-O-L-E-N-C-E: 11 letters. It appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 64,400th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, malevolence means “Hostile attitude or feeling” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of malevolence is malevolences.
How many letters and syllables are in malevolence?
| Letters | 11: M-A-L-E-V-O-L-E-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 5 million words; the 64,400th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is malevolence?
Malevolence appears about once in every 5 million words in written English, the 64,400th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce malevolence?
- /məˈlɛvələns/
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-malevolence.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of malevolence
- malevolences plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does malevolence mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Hostile attitude or feeling.
to show someone malevolence
- 2
Behavior exhibiting a hostile attitude.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Malevolence in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense hostile attitude or feeling:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | malveillance, hostilité |
| German | Böswilligkeit, Missgunst |
| Portuguese | malevolência |
| Spanish | malevolencia |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does malevolence come from?
From Middle French malevolence, from Latin malevolentia (“malevolence”), derived from malevolēns (“malevolent”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).