malfeasance
mal·fea·sance/ˌmælˈfiːzəns/noun
malfeasance is spelled M-A-L-F-E-A-S-A-N-C-E: 11 letters and 3 syllables (mal·fea·sance). It appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, malfeasance means “Wrongdoing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of malfeasance is malfeasances.
How many letters and syllables are in malfeasance?
| Letters | 11: M-A-L-F-E-A-S-A-N-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: mal·fea·sance |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words; the 47,073rd 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 malfeasance?
Malfeasance appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd 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 malfeasance?
- /ˌmælˈfiːzəns/
Malfeasance has 3 syllables, split mal·fea·sance in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-malfeasance.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of malfeasance
- malfeasances plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does malfeasance mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Wrongdoing.
- 2
Misconduct or wrongdoing, especially by a public official and causing damage.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Malfeasance in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | schwerwiegendes Fehlverhalten, schwere Missetat, Übeltat, Untat, Schandtat , Sabotage |
| Spanish | maldad, maleficencia, infracción , abuso de autoridad, prevaricación, prevaricato |
| Portuguese | prevaricação |
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 malfeasance come from?
From Old French malfaisance, derived from malfaire, maufaire (“to do evil”), from Latin malefaciō (“to do evil”), from male (“evilly”) + faciō (“to do, make”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).