Word.ws English Dictionary

mala

Syllables: ma·la/ˈmeɪ.lə/UK/ˈmɑːlɑː/

mala noun: a single lobe of an insect's maxilla. Also the plural of malum.

Noun (1)

mala (plural malae)

  1. A single lobe of an insect's maxilla.
  2. The grinding surface of an insect's mandible.
  3. The third segment of a mandible of some myriapods.

Noun (2)

mala (plural malas or mala)

  1. (Hinduism, Sikhism) A bead or a set of beads commonly used by Hindus and Buddhists for keeping count while reciting, chanting, or mentally repeating a mantra or the name or names of a deity.
    • His words were like beads on the string of a mala, escaping his lips in small puffs of air.2021, Ruth Ozeki, The Book of Form and Emptiness, Canongate Books (2022), page 413
    Synonyms:
    japamala

Noun (3)

mala (plural malas)

  1. Synonym of rufous hare-wallaby.

Noun (4)

mala (uncountable)

  1. A seasoning made from Sichuan pepper and chilis.

Noun (5) capitalized: MALA

MALA (uncountable)

  1. (abbreviation) Abbreviation of metformin-associated metabolic acidosis.

Also used as

mala is also the plural of malum.

Synonyms of mala

Forms of mala

pluralmalae
pluralmalas
pluralmala

Plural of mala: malas or mala

Origin of mala

Learned borrowing from Latin māla (“the cheekbone, jaw”).

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Transliteration of Sanskrit माला (mālā, “wreath, garland, crown”).

Phrases with mala

Words that rhyme with mala

Questions about mala

What does mala mean?
Mala means a single lobe of an insect's maxilla.
What part of speech is mala?
Mala is a noun.
How do you pronounce mala?
Mala is pronounced /ˈmeɪ.lə/.
What is the plural of mala?
The plural of mala is malae.

Words near mala in the dictionary

  1. mal-developed
  2. mal-di-gomma
  3. mal-parries
  4. mal-parry
  5. Mal.
  6. mala
  7. mala fide
  8. mala in se
  9. mala prohibita
  10. Mala Subotica
  11. Mala Vyska

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mala (page history and authors); MALA (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “mala.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mala. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.