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maleficus. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
maleficus, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
maleficus in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Latin
Etymology
Derived from male (“badly, wrongly”) + -ficus (suffix denoting making or doing).
Pronunciation
Noun
maleficus m (genitive maleficī); second declension
- doer of wrong, evildoer, criminal (person)
- sorcerer, magician
(Can we date this quote?), S. Hieronymus, Commentarii [Commentaries]:Maleficos, quos vel veneficos possumus appellare, vel dæmonum phantasmatibus servientes."- Sorcerors, whom we can call either wizards or serving the phantasms of demons."
Declension
Second-declension noun.
Adjective
maleficus (feminine malefica, neuter maleficum); first/second-declension adjective
- wicked, vicious
- criminal
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
Descendants
References
- “maleficus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “maleficus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- maleficus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
- maleficus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.