EVIL

Evil is the intention of causing harm or destruction, specifically from the perception of deliberately violating some moral code. The philosophical question of whether morality is absolute or relative leads to questions about the nature of evil. Evil is usually seen as the opposite of good.

Many religions have strong views about the nature of evil. In some religions, evil is an active force, often personified as an entity such as Satan or Angra Mainyu.

The modern English word "evil" (Old English yfel) and its cognates such as the German Übel are widely considered to come from a Proto-Germanic reconstructed form *ubilaz, comparable to the Hittitehuwapp- ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European form *wap- and suffixed zero-grade form *up-elo-.

Other later Germanic forms include Middle English evel, ifel, ufel, Old Frisian evel (adjective and noun), Old Saxon ubil, Old High German ubil, and Gothic ubils. The root meaning is of obscure origin though shown to be akin to modern English "over" and modern German über (OE ofer) and "up" (OE up, upp) with the basic idea of "transgressing"