恶意 (è yì) — Chinese Word

noun / adjective HSK 5

Traditional 惡意

è yì

malice · malicious intent · ill will · malevolent

Meaning

恶意 refers to malicious or hostile intent behind an action. It describes the deliberate desire to harm, deceive, or cause trouble to others. The word combines 恶 (evil/bad) and 意 (intention/meaning) to express intentional wrongdoing or harmful purpose, as opposed to accidental harm or mistakes.

Usage

恶意 is commonly used in legal, formal, and media contexts to describe intentional harmful behavior. It often appears as a modifier before verbs (恶意攻击 'malicious attack') or nouns (恶意软件 'malware'). Native speakers use it to distinguish deliberate harm from negligence or accidents, emphasizing the perpetrator's bad intentions.

Examples

01
他的评论充满了恶意，故意伤害别人。
Tā de píng lùn chōng mǎn le è yì, gù yì shāng hài bié rén.
His comments were full of malice, deliberately hurting others.
02
警方认为这是一起恶意破坏公共财产的案件。
Jǐng fāng rèn wéi zhè shì yī qǐ è yì pò huài gōng gòng cái chǎn de àn jiàn.
The police believe this is a case of malicious destruction of public property.

Characters

Common collocations

恶意攻击
è yì gōng jī
malicious attack
恶意软件
è yì ruǎn jiàn
malware, malicious software
恶意诽谤
è yì fěi bàng
malicious slander
充满恶意
chōng mǎn è yì
full of malice

Antonyms

Origin

The compound combines 恶 (evil) with 意 (intention/thought) to literally mean 'evil intention.' This straightforward construction has been used in Chinese for centuries to distinguish intentional wrongdoing from accidents.