mayhem
English · Thesaurus
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mayhem
- /ˈmeɪhɛm/ UK
- /ˈmeɪˌ(h)ɛm/ US
- [ˈmeɪ̯ˌhɪ̟m] pin pen merger
Where it comes from
The noun is derived from Late Middle English mayehem, maihem, a late form of maym, maim (“disfigurement, injury, mutilation; disfigured person”) (whence modern English maim (noun)), from Anglo-Norman mahaim, mahainne (“mutilation”), and Old French mehaing, meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”).
The verb is partly:
* from Late Middle English mahaym, maheyme, a late form of maimen, maymen (“to injure seriously, mutilate, maim; to damage; to destroy; to afflict with disease; to dispossess”) (whence modern English maim (verb)), from Anglo-Norman mahaigner, mahimer, Middle French mehaignier, and Old French mehaingner, meshaignier (“to destroy; to harm; to injure, maim”); and
* from the modern English noun.
The etymology of the Old French words is uncertain; they are possibly from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to damage; to hurt; to change; to exchange”) (compare Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”); Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”); Old Norse meiða (“to injure”)), from Proto-Indo-European *meyth₂- (“to change; to exchange; etc.”), possibly from *mey- (“to change; to exchange”). If so, the English word is a doublet of mad.
noun mayhems · maihem
- The criminal offence of maiming (“seriously wounding”) a person such that their ability to defend or protect themselves is weakened or completely removed; (countable) an instance of this. to commit mayhem
- The criminal offence of maiming a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs. There is a story told of a case where a notorious character was charged with the unusual crime of "mayhem"—biting off another man's finger. The defendant's counsel secured adjournment after adjournment—no one knew why. […] He [the defendant] had not a tooth in his head. The delay had been advantageo
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Often preceded by to cause or make: great confusion, destruction, disorder, or trouble; chaos, turmoil; (countable) an instance of this.
In all the mayhem, some children were separated from their parents.
Similar: bedlam, car crash, chaos, confusion, disarray, disorder, disorganization, dog's breakfast, dog's dinner, free-for-all, fuddle, hash
- Violent conduct, especially the violent infliction of injury on a person or thing. The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.
verb mayhems · mayheming · mayhemed
- To commit the criminal offence of mayhem (noun sense 1) on (someone); to maim. It is a gentle holineſſe […] to riſe vp in routes and fight againſt chriſten men, and deſtroy […] many a good religious houſe, ſpoyled, meyhemed, ⁊ ſlaine many a good vertuous man, robbed, polluted, and pulled downe manye a goodly church of Chriſt.
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To violently inflict injury on (someone); to injure, to wound.
The law had regarded them [black people] as mere chattels; and it had passed into a proverb in the nation, that they had "no rights which white men were bound to respect." To buy, to sell, to task, to whip, to mayhem this race at will, had been from immemorial days a right which the now subjugated p
Similar: abuse, annoy, bewound, damage, damnify, dere, do damage to, do for, do ill, do violence to, forwork, grieve
Thesaurus
Closest in meaning: havoc, chaotic, turmoil, chaos, free-for-all, disarray, mess, messy, disturbance, muddle, disorder, confusion, trouble, bedlam, unrest, damage
Translations
Every language
noun criminal offence of maiming a person such that their ability to defend or protect themselves is weakened or completely removed; an instance of this
| Español | mutilación criminal |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | Verstümmelung |
| Русский | изуве́чение izuvéčenije, искале́чение iskaléčenije |
noun great confusion, destruction, disorder, or trouble; instance of this
| Español | alboroto, caos, julepe, quilombo, tumulto |
|---|---|
| 中文 | 混乱 hǔnluàn |
| Português | alvoroço, caos, confusão, desordem, tumulto |
| Français | chaos, désordre, grabuge, tumulte |
| Deutsch | Chaos |
| Italiano | caos, confusione, marasma |
| Ελληνικά | χαμός chamós |
| Русский | беспоря́док besporjádok, разгро́м razgróm, ха́ос xáos, хао́с xaós |
noun violent conduct, especially the violent infliction of injury
| Español | herir |
|---|---|
| Français | dévastation, mutilation |
| Русский | нанесе́ние уве́чья nanesénije uvéčʹja |
Talk about this word "mayhem." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/mayhem. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. mayhem. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/mayhem "mayhem." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/mayhem.Cite this
@misc{mayhem_2026,
title = {mayhem},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/mayhem},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
