• vt. 誹謗，污蔑；中傷，說壞話
• adj. 惡意的，惡性的；有害的

mal-,壞的，不良的，-gn,出生，詞源同gene,generate.字面意思即出生就壞的，引申詞義誹謗，中傷等。

malign

malign: [14] Malign comes, probably via Old French, from Latin malignus ‘wicked’. This was derived from malus ‘bad’, a word of unknown origin (some have tried to link it with English small). Malus is of course the starting point for a wide range of other English words, including malady [13] (ultimately from Vulgar Latin *male habitus ‘in bad condition’); malaise [18] (which originated in Old French as a conflation of mal aise ‘bad ease’); malapropism; malaria; malediction [15] (etymologically ‘evil saying’); malevolent [16] (literally ‘wishing evil’); malice [13] (from Latin malitia, a derivative of malus); and malingerer [18] (from French malingre, which may have been a compound of mal- and haingre ‘weak’). Malignant [16] comes from the present participle of Latin malignāre ‘act with malice’, a verb derived from malignus.
=> malady, malaise, malaria, malignant, malingerer

malign (adj.)

early 14c., from Old French maligne "having an evil nature," from Latin malignus "wicked, bad-natured," from male "badly" (see mal-) + -gnus "born," from gignere "to bear, beget," from PIE root *gn- "to bear" (see genus).

malign (v.)

"to slander," mid-15c., from earlier more literal sense of "to plot, to contrive" (early 15c.), from Old French malignier "to plot, deceive, pervert," from Late Latin malignare "to do maliciously," from malignus (see malign (adj.)). Related: Maligned; maligning.

1. Reliance on sponsorship can have a malign effect on theatre groups.

對贊助的依賴會給劇團帶來不良的影響。

來自柯林斯例句

2. Your behaviours exercised a malign influence on the children.

你的行為對孩子們產生了不良的影響.

來自《簡明英漢詞典》

3. Malign fate had broken their necks , perhaps, but never their hearts.

致命的厄運有時期斷了他們的頭頸, 但從不曾扼 他們的勇氣.

來自飄（部分）

4. " How did we malign you?

“ 我們怎樣糟踏你?

來自漢英文學 - 圍城

5. In an institutional environment that demanded lying, more malign lies could flourish.

在一種歷來要求撒謊的環境里, 更無恥的謊話也能風靡一時.

來自辭典例句