'maleficence' originates from Latin, specifically the word 'maleficentia', where 'male-' meant 'badly' or 'evil' and 'facere' (in the compound) meant 'to do'.

'maleficence' passed into Middle English via Old French ('maleficence') from the Latin 'maleficentia' and became the modern English noun 'maleficence'.

Initially, it meant 'the doing of evil' in a literal sense; over time it has been used more broadly to denote harmful or malicious conduct or influence in moral, legal, and literary contexts.