malalt

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan malate, malaute, from Latin male habitus (“ill-kept, run down”).

The sound changes approximately ran as follows: *[maˈlaβtu] > [maˈlau̯te] > [maˈlaɫt]. The last stage involves a reidentification of coda [u̯] as the phoneme /l/, heavily velarized in coda positions. Cf. Catalan colze < colde < *coude < *[ˈkoβ(e)do] < Latin cubitum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [məˈlal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [məˈlalt]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [maˈlalt]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -alt

Adjective

malalt (feminine malalta, masculine plural malalts, feminine plural malaltes)

1. sick, ill

Derived terms

• malaltia
• malaltís

Further reading

• “malalt” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “malalt”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “malalt”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025