felony

English

Alternative forms

fellonie

Etymology

From Middle English felony, felonie, from Old French felonie (“evil, immoral deed”), from felon (“evildoer”). Ultimately of Proto-Germanic origin. More at felon.

Pronunciation

enPR: fĕ'lə-nē, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛ.lə.ni/
Audio (UK) (file)
Audio (US) (file)

Noun

felony (plural felonies)

(US, law) A serious criminal offense, which, under United States federal law, is punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year or by death.

Derived terms

composition of a felony

Related terms

felon
felonious
felonize

Translations

a serious criminal offense

Arabic: جِنَايَة‎ (ar) f (jināya)
Gulf Arabic: جناية‎ f (jināya)
Bulgarian: углавно престъпление n (uglavno prestǎplenie)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 重罪 (zh) (zhòngzuì)
Czech: trestný čin (cs) m, závažný trestný čin m
Dutch: zwaar misdrijf
Finnish: törkeä rikos (fi)
French: crime (fr) m
German: Verbrechen (de) n (defined similarly to “felony”); schwere Straftat f (informal synonym); Schwerverbrechen n, Schwerstverbrechen n, Kapitalverbrechen (de) n (informal augmentations)
Greek: κακούργημα (el) n (kakoúrgima)
Hungarian: (súlyos (hu)) bűncselekmény (hu), bűntett (hu)
Italian: delitto (it) m
Japanese: 重罪 (ja) (じゅうざい, jūzai)
Korean: 중죄 (ko) (jungjoe)
Maori: taihara
Plautdietsch: Vebräakjen n
Polish: ciężkie przestępstwo n, zbrodnia (pl) f
Portuguese: crime grave m
Russian: преступле́ние (ru) n (prestuplénije), тя́жкое уголо́вное преступле́ние n (tjážkoje ugolóvnoje prestuplénije), тя́жкое преступле́ние n (tjážkoje prestuplénije), уголо́вное преступле́ние n (ugolóvnoje prestuplénije), фело́ния (ru) f (felónija), фелони́я (ru) f (feloníja)
Spanish: crimen (es) m, delito (es) m, felonía (es) f (US)
Tagalog: pagkakasala
Welsh: ffeloniaeth f