malfaire

Malfaire is a French verb that means to perform a task poorly or improperly, or more broadly to act in a negligent or unjustified manner. It is formed from the prefix mal- (meaning bad) and faire (to do). The sense can apply to tangible work or to actions carried out in a faulty, improper, or ill-intentioned way. In contemporary usage, malfaire is relatively rare in everyday speech and tends to appear in formal, literary, historical, or juridical contexts. More common expressions include faire mal ou mal faire qqch, or simply mal faire.

The noun forms related to the concept include malfaisance and malfaçon. Malfaisance designates wrongdoing or ill-doing, often in a moral or ethical sense; it is also used in legal or administrative discourse to refer to grave faults or misconduct. Malfaçon refers specifically to defective workmanship or a faulty product or construction. A person who commits wrongdoing is called a malfaiteur.

Usage notes: the verb malfaire can be used with direct objects, as in “malfaire son travail,” but speakers frequently prefer alternatives such as “faire mal son travail” or “mal faire quelque chose.” The term is more likely to appear in discussions of ethics, law, or historical texts than in casual conversation.

See also: malfaisance; malfaçon; malfaiteur.