# malicious

> English word · Adjective · IPA /məˈlɪʃəs/ · frequency rank #11,739

## Definitions
1. Intending to do harm; characterized by spite and malice.

## Etymology
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.

## Easily confused with
- **maliciously** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/malicious-vs-maliciously)

## Common misspellings (12)
`amlicious`, `mailcious`, `malciious`, `maliccious`, `maliciosu`, `maliciouss`, `maliciuos`, `malicoius`, `maliicous`, `mallicious`, `mlaicious`, `mmalicious`

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