malnourished
Meaning
Suffering from a lack of proper nutrients in the diet; undernourished.
Structure
Usage
The aid agency focused on helping malnourished children in the drought-stricken region.
A diet consisting only of junk food can leave a person feeling weak and malnourished.
Doctors were concerned about the patient's malnourished condition upon admission.
Etymology
The word 'malnourished' is a modern English formation built from classical components. The prefix 'mal-', derived from the Latin malus meaning 'bad', has been a productive element in English for centuries, signaling something faulty or undesirable. It is attached to the verb 'nourish', which traces back through Old French to the Latin nutrire, meaning 'to feed' or 'suckle'. The combination, 'malnourish', logically means 'to feed badly'. The addition of the participial suffix '-ed' creates an adjective describing the resulting state of someone who has been poorly fed. Thus, the term's literal logic—"in a state of having been badly nourished"—maps directly and transparently onto its modern medical and social meaning of suffering from dietary deficiency.
Analysis
- mal: From Latin malus (bad, evil). A prefix indicating a negative, defective, or undesirable condition. - nourish: From Old French norir, ultimately from Latin nutrire (to feed, nourish, support). The verb root meaning to provide with food or sustenance. - ed: A common English suffix forming adjectives from verbs, indicating a state or condition.