Meaning

noun disposition to do good

noun an inclination to do kind or charitable acts

noun an act intending or showing kindness and good will

originCirca 1400, original sense “good will, disposition to do good”, Old French benivolence from Latin benevolentia (also directly from Latin), literally “good will”, from bene (“well, good”) + volentia, form of volēns, form of volō (“to wish”), components cognate to English benefit and voluntary, more distantly will (via Proto-Indo-European).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0