malice
mal·ice/ˈmælɪs/noun, verb
malice is spelled M-A-L-I-C-E: 6 letters and 2 syllables (mal·ice). It appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, malice means “Intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another's misfortune” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of malice is malices.
How many letters and syllables are in malice?
| Letters | 6: M-A-L-I-C-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: mal·ice |
| In writing | 2.2 times per million words; the 18,537th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is malice?
Malice appears 2.2 times per million words in written English, the 18,537th 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 malice?
- /ˈmælɪs/
Malice has 2 syllables, split mal·ice in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-malice.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with malice?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as malice.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: maleic.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of malice
- malices plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- malicing participle, present
- maliced participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does malice mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another's misfortune.
Your voice positively drips malice.
- 2
An intention to do injury to another party, which in many jurisdictions is a distinguishing factor between the crimes of murder and manslaughter.
verb
- 1
To intend to cause harm; to bear malice.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Malice in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense intention to harm:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | malveillance, méchanceté, malice |
| German | Boshaftigkeit, Böse, Bosheit, Bösartigkeit |
| Portuguese | malícia, malignidade, maldade |
| Spanish | malicia |
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 malice come from?
From Middle English malice, borrowed from Old French malice, from Latin malitia (“badness, bad quality, ill-will, spite”), from malus (“bad”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).