Mid 17th century; earliest use found in Thomas Blount (1618–1679), antiquary and lexicographer. In sense 1 from classical Latin malacia a disorder of the stomach, especially as experienced by pregnant women (glossed by Oxf. Lat. Dict. as ‘sickness, nausea’ but interpreted by earlier authors as denoting a craving for unusual or unnatural foods) from ancient Greek μαλακία softness, homosexual desire, sickness from μαλακός soft + -ία.