Wild chaos and disorder, often involving violence or destruction.
From Old French 'mahaigne,' possibly from Frankish 'maim.' Originally a legal term describing violent injury, it evolved to describe any situation of chaotic violence or destruction.
Mayhem started as a legal term for causing someone bodily injury, but it's such a vivid word that it escaped the courtroom and became our go-to word for describing wild chaos—words that capture action tend to expand their meanings!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.