LexBrew
Confusables Entry 1074 / 1350 60-second read

Benign vs. Malignant

Harmless (often medical) versus cancerous or harmful.

The comparisoni

✗ Wrong

The malignant tumor turned out to be harmless after all.

✓ Correct

The benign tumor turned out to be harmless after all.

The ruleii

BENIGN = harmless. MALIGNANT = harmful.

BENIGN means harmless — from Latin benignus "kind." MALIGNANT means harmful or cancerous — from Latin malignus "ill-natured." Medical scan reports turn on this single word.

Memory aidiii

Remember it like this

BenIgn = kInd. MAlignant = MAlicious.

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