malicious
/məˈlɪʃəs/adjective
malicious is spelled M-A-L-I-C-I-O-U-S: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, malicious means “Intending to do harm; characterized by spite and malice” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in malicious?
| Letters | 9: M-A-L-I-C-I-O-U-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 4.7 times per million words; the 11,685th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is malicious?
Malicious appears 4.7 times per million words in written English, the 11,685th 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 malicious?
- /məˈlɪʃəs/
Malicious has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-malicious.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of malicious
- more malicious comparative
- most malicious superlative
- malitious
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does malicious mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Intending to do harm; characterized by spite and malice.
He was sent off for a malicious tackle on Jones.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate malicious?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of malicious: MRT.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Malicious in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | malveillant , mauvais |
| German | böse, boshaft, maliziös, böswillig, bösartig |
| Portuguese | malicioso, maldoso |
| Spanish | maligno |
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 malicious come from?
From Middle English malicious, from Old French malicios, from Latin malitiōsus, from malitia (“malice”), from malus (“bad”). Displaced native Middle English ivelwilled and ivelwilly (“malicious”), related to Old English yfelwillende (literally “evil-willing”). By surface analysis, malice + -ious.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).