恶性 èxìng malignant
malignant; wicked; vicious (circle); producing evil; rapid (decline); runaway (inflation)
How to remember 恶性: 恶 bad + 性 nature = malignant.
Characters
How it is used
- Malignant/vicious as a modifier - the dangerous, self-worsening kind - 恶性肿瘤 (èxìng zhǒngliú) a malignant tumor, 恶性循环 (èxìng xúnhuán) a vicious circle, 恶性通货膨胀 runaway inflation.
- Its antonym is 良性 (liángxìng, benign); the 恶性/良性 pair splits tumors and, by extension, cycles/competition into bad vs healthy - 良性肿瘤 (liángxìng zhǒngliú) a benign tumor.
- Attributive only - modifies a following noun, not used as a predicate adjective.