mal·a·dy

[mal-uh-dee]
noun, plural mal·a·dies.
1.
any disorder or disease of the body, especially one that is chronic or deepseated.
2.
any undesirable or disordered condition: social maladies; a malady of the spirit.
Origin:
1200–50; Middle English maladie < Old French, equivalent to malade sick (< Late Latin male habitus literally, ill-conditioned; see mal-, habit) + -ie -y3

Can be confused: malady, melody.

Synonyms
1. illness, sickness, affliction, complaint, ailment, indisposition.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Malady is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
malady (ˈmælədɪ) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
—n , pl -dies
1.  any disease or illness
2.  any unhealthy, morbid, or desperate condition: a malady of the spirit
 
[C13: from Old French, from Vulgar Latin male habitus (unattested) in poor condition, from Latin male badly + habitus, from habēre to have]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

malady
mid-13c., from O.Fr. maladie "sickness, illness, disease," from malade "ill," from L. male habitus "doing poorly, feeling sick," lit. "ill-conditioned," from male "badly" (see mal-) + habitus, pp. of habere "have, hold" (see habit). Related: Maladies.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

malady mal·a·dy (māl'ə-dē)
n.
A disease, disorder, or ailment.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Example sentences
Or about what great poet had what malady and for how long.
There was a time that unnecessary hand-washing topped the malady's charts.
This malady is, of course, stage fright.
He was now barely arousable: his brain, battered by its mysterious malady, was
  sinking relentlessly into deeper levels of coma.
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