Root of the Week: MAL (Tuesday)

Malfunction (Noun),  Malnutrition (Noun),  Malabsorption (Noun), Dismal (Adjective)  

Some maladies arise, not from germs or viruses but from some kind of malfunction in the body: sometimes one or more body systems aren’t working properly. For example, a person may suffer from malnutrition, a deprivation of essential nutrients that is usually related to food scarcity. But in some cases, this can happen even when food is abundant, because of malabsorption. A malfunctioning digestive system may not be able to absorb nutrients from the food a person consumes, leaving the person malnourished. Someone who doesn’t get enough nutrients is likely to feel dismal, a word that comes from the Latin dies mali, meaning bad or unlucky day.