also mal-assimilation, "faulty digestion, imperfect nutrition," 1840, from mal- + assimilation.
Entries linking to malassimilation
mal-
word-forming element of Latin origin meaning "bad, badly, ill, poorly, wrong, wrongly," from French mal (adv.), from Old French mal (adj., adv.) "evil, ill, wrong, wrongly" (9c.), from Latin male (adv.) "badly," or malus (adj.) "bad, evil" (fem. mala, neuter malum), from Proto-Italic *malo-, from PIE *mol-o-, probably from PIE root *mel- (3) "false, bad, wrong."
Most Modern English words with this element are 19c. coinages. It generally implies imperfection or deficiency, but often it is simply negative (as in malfeasance, malcontent). It is equivalent to dys- and caco- of Greek origin and Germanic mis- (1).
assimilation n.
early 15c., "act of assimilating," in reference to the body's use of nutrition, from Old French assimilacion, from Latin assimilationem (nominative assimilatio) "likeness, similarity," noun of action from past-participle stem of assimilare "to make like" (see assimilate).
The meaning "process of becoming alike or identical, conversion into a similar substance" is from 1620s. The figurative use is from 1790. The psychological sense is from 1855.