malediction

Etymology

From late Middle English malediccion, from Middle French malédiction, from Latin maledictiō (“curse”) from malus (“evil”) + dictiō (“speech”) noun of action from perfect passive participle dictus (“spoken”), from verb dīcō (“speak”).

noun

1. A curse.
   In view of all that we have said in the foregoing sections, the many obstacles we appear to have surmounted, what casts the pall over our victory celebration? It is the curse of dimensionality, a malediction that has plagued the scientist from earliest days. 1961, Richard Bellman, Adaptive Control Processes: A Guided Tour, Princeton University Press, page 94
2. Evil speech.