evil

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Morally very bad; wanting to harm others.

   In the story, an evil king ruled the kingdom with cruelty.

2. 2
   noun

   The quality of being morally wrong; great wickedness.

   Many religions try to explain the origin of evil in the world.

3. 3
   noun

   Something that causes harm, suffering, or misfortune.

   Poverty is one of the great evils of our society.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Evil is inherited from Old English and has belonged to the language since its earliest recorded period. The source does not identify a more remote linguistic ancestor.

From Middle English yvel, evel, ivel, uvel, from Old English yfel, from Proto-West Germanic *ubil, from Proto-Germanic *ubilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂up(h₁)élos, a deverbal derivative of *h₂wep(h₁)-, *h₂wop(h₁)- (“treat badly”). See -le for the supposed suffix. Alternatively from *upélos (“evil”, literally “going over or beyond (acceptable limits)”), from Proto-Indo-European *upo, *h₃ewp- (“down, up, over”). Cognates Cognate with Dutch euvel (“evil”), German übel (“bad, evil”), German Low German övel (“evil”), Luxembourgish iwwel (“queasy, nauseous; bad”), Gothic 𐌿𐌱𐌹𐌻𐍃 (ubils, “bad, evil…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary