felon
English
Pronunciation
- enPR: fĕlʹən; IPA(key): /ˈfɛl.ən/
Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛlən
Etymology 1
From Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun (“traitor, wretch”), from Medieval Latin fellō, from Frankish *fellō (“wicked person”), from Proto-Germanic *fillô, *filjô (“flayer, whipper, scoundrel”), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“cruel, evil”) (compare English fell (“fierce”), Middle High German vālant (“imp”)), related to *fellaną (compare Dutch villen, German fillen (“to whip, beat”), both from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move, swing”) (compare Old Irish ad·ella (“to seek”), di·ella (“to yield”), Umbrian pelsatu (“to overcome, conquer”), Latin pellō (“to drive, beat”), Latvian lijuôs, plītiês (“to force, impose”), Ancient Greek πέλας (pélas, “near”), πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “I approach”), Old Armenian հալածեմ (halacem, “I pursue”).
Noun
felon (plural felons)
- A person who has committed a felony.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, James Nisbet & Company (1902), Book 3, Chapter 6, page 340:
- Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, James Nisbet & Company (1902), Book 3, Chapter 6, page 340:
- (law) A person who has been tried and convicted of a felony.
- A wicked person.
Synonyms
- (one who has committed a felony): criminal; convict; malefactor; culprit
Related terms
- felonious
- felonize
- felony
Translations
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Adjective
felon
- wicked; cruel
Etymology 2
Probably from Latin fel (“gall, poison”).
Noun
felon (plural felons)
- (medicine) A bacterial infection at the end of a finger or toe.
See also
- whitlow
References
- felon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- felon at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams
- flone
Esperanto
Noun
felon
- accusative singular of felo
Old French
Alternative forms
- felun, feloun, felloun
Etymology
From Medieval Latin fellō, from Frankish *fellō (“evildoer”).
Noun
felon m (oblique plural felons, nominative singular felons, nominative plural felon)[1][2]
- evildoer; wrongdoer
- immoral person
Declension
Number | Case | Masculine | Feminine |
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Subject | felons | felone |
Oblique | felon | felone | |
Plural | Subject | felon | felones |
Oblique | felons | felones |
Adjective
felon m (oblique and nominative feminine singular felone)
- bastard; idiot (a general pejorative)
- evil; bad; immoral
- 13th century, Unknown, La Vie de Saint Laurent, page 5, column 1, line 7:
- car il voloit le felon tirant
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
-
Declension
Number | Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Subject | felons | felone | felon |
Oblique | felon | |||
Plural | Subject | felon | felones | |
Oblique | felons |
Related terms
- felonie
Descendants
- Middle French: felon
- French: félon
- Norman: fflon
- Picard: fèlôn
- → Middle Dutch: fel, felle (reborrowing[3])
- → Middle English: felun, feloun
- Scots: felloun
- English: felon
- → Scots: felon, fellin
- → Galician: felón
- → Spanish: felón
References
- Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (1. felon)
-
- felunie on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub
- van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “fel”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute
Romanian
Etymology
From Old Church Slavonic фелонь (felonĭ), from Ancient Greek φελόνιον (phelónion).
Noun
felon n (plural feloane)
- cape worn by the priest over the liturgical garments
Declension
singular | plural | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
indefinite articulation | definite articulation | indefinite articulation | definite articulation | |
nominative/accusative | (un) felon | felonul | (niște) feloane | feloanele |
genitive/dative | (unui) felon | felonului | (unor) feloane | feloanelor |
vocative | felonule | feloanelor |