mal
Spanish, noun/ˈmal/
mal is spelled M-A-L (3 letters) and appears 417 times per million words in written Spanish, the 196th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Mal is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “evil, harm; a bad thing or situation” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Carencia de bondad”.
What does mal mean in English?
adverb
- 1
badly, poorly, ill
No hables mal de los muertos.
- 2
awry, amiss, wrong, wrongly
Tu plan maestro salió mal bastante rápido
- 3
hard (functions as an adverb in Spanish but translates as an adjective in English)
Estoy pasándolo mal con todo ahora mismo.
- 4
colloquialUsed as an intensifier, very
- 5
colloquialyes
noun
- 1
masculineevil, harm; a bad thing or situation
de mal en peor
- 2
masculinedisease, illness, ailment
... le curaremos, si es que su mal tiene cura...
- 3
masculineworse (substantive)
para bien o para mal
adjective
- 1
masculineapocopic form of malo bad; evil
- 2
masculineamiss, awry, off, wrong
Me di cuenta de que algo estaba mal.
prefix
- 1
bad; badly
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Carencia de bondad. 2. Daño material o moral. 3. Infortunio causante de perjuicios. 4. Condición anormal del cuerpo que daña o corrompe sus funciones normales, que causa incomodidad o que deteriora la salud.
adverb: 1. Al contrario de lo que debe ser o de lo que sería deseable. 2. Difícilmente. 3. Insuficientemente o poco.
interjection: 1. Se usa para reconocer o confirmar la veracidad de una afirmación hecha por el interlocutor.
adjective: 1. Variante de malo
prefix: 1. Elemento compositivo que se prefija a numerosos vocablos para indicar "mal₂" o "malo".
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of mal
- peor comparative
- males plural
- malo standard
- malos plural
- mala feminine
- malas feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce mal?
- /ˈmal/
- [ˈmal]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to mal
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is mal in Spanish?
mal appears 417 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).