felon

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See also: félon and felón

English[edit]

WOTD – 8 November 2023

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

The adjective is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“base, wicked; hostile; of an animal: dangerous; of words: angry, harsh, slanderous; of things: dangerous, deadly; false, fraudulent; unlucky”) [and other forms],[1] from Old French felon (“bad, evil, immoral”) (compare fel (“evil; despicable, vile”)), from Vulgar Latin *fellō, *fellōnem; further etymology uncertain, possibly from one of the following, among other suggestions:[2]

Doublet of fell (“of a strong and cruel nature; fierce; grim; ruthless, savage”).

Sense 3 (“obtained through a felony”) is derived from the noun.

The noun is derived from Middle English feloun, felun (“criminal, specifically one who has committed a felony, felon; cruel, hostile, violent, etc., person; deceiver; evildoer, monster, sinner; traitor; bold or fierce warrior; deceit, falseness; wickedness, wrongdoing; treachery”) [and other forms],[3] from feloun, felun (adjective): see above.

cognates

Adjective[edit]

felon

  1. (chiefly poetic) Of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
  2. (by extension) Of a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
  4. (obsolete, rare) Obtained through a felony; stolen.
    • 1631, Thomas Fuller, “Davids Hainous Sinne. Stanza 19.”, in Davids Hainous Sinne. Heartie Repentance. Heavie Punishment, London: […] Tho[mas] Cotes, for Iohn Bellamie, […], →OCLC; republished London: Basil Montagu Pickering, […], 1869, →OCLC, signature [A7], verso:
      Thus hee that conquer’d men, and beaſt moſt cruell, / (VVhoſe greedy pavves, vvith fellon goods vvere found) / Anſvver’d Goliah’s challenge in a duell, / And layd the Giant groveling on the ground: […]
Translations[edit]
of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless — see brutal,‎ cruel
of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: evil, wicked — see evil,‎ wicked
of a place: harsh, savage, wild — see savage,‎ wild
of a thing: deadly, harmful — see deadly,‎ harmful
obtained through a felony — see stolen

Noun[edit]

felon (plural felons)

  1. (criminal law) A person who has committed a felony (“serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
    • c. 1591–1595 (date written), [William Shakespeare], […] Romeo and Juliet. […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, published 1597, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], signature K, verso:
      I doe defie thy coniurations: / And doe attach thee as a fellon heere.
    • 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC; reprinted in The Pilgrim’s Progress (The Noel Douglas Replicas), London: Noel Douglas, […], 1928, →OCLC, pages 215–216:
      And therefore they are but like the Fellon that ſtandeth before the Judge, he quakes and trembles, and ſeems to repent most heartily; but the bottom of all is, the fear of the Halter, not of any deteſtation of the offence; as is evident, becauſe, let but this man have his liberty, and he vvill be a Thief, and ſo a Rogue still, vvhereas, if his mind vvas changed, he vvould be othervviſe.
    • 1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin, London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 13, lines 225–228:
      Hovv, vvith leſs reading than makes felons 'ſcape, / Leſs human genius than God gives an ape, / Small thanks to France, and none to Rome or Greece, / A paſt, vamp'd, future, old, reviv'd, novv piece, […]
    • 1797, Edmund Burke, “Letter III.”, in A Third Letter to a Member of the Present Parliament, on the Proposals for Peace with the Regicide Directory of France, London: […] F[rancis] and C[harles] Rivington, […]; sold also by J[ohn] Hatchard, […], →OCLC, page 3:
      If the diſguſting detail of the accumulated inſults vve have received, in vvhat vve have very properly called our "ſolicitation," to a gang of felons and murderers, had been produced as a proof of the utter inefficacy of that mode of proceeding vvith that deſcription of perſons, I ſhould have nothing at all to object to it.
    • 1859, Charles Dickens, “Triumph”, in A Tale of Two Cities, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book III (The Track of a Storm), pages 189–190:
      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.
    • 1878 March 30, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Fortune of the Republic. Lecture Delivered at the Old South Church, March 30, 1878, Boston, Mass.: Houghton, Osgood and Company […], published 1878, →OCLC, pages 83–84:
      The felon is the logical extreme of the epicure and coxcomb. Selfish luxury is the end of both, though in one it is decorated with refinements, and in the other brutal. But my point now is, that this spirit is not American.
  2. (obsolete) An evil or wicked person; also (by extension) a predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.
Hypernyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English feloun, felone (“type of carbuncle or sore with pus; swelling on a hawk’s body”),[4] possibly from Old French *felon, from Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”): see etymology 1.[5]

Noun[edit]

felon (plural felons)

  1. (pathology, veterinary medicine) A small infected sore; an abscess, a boil; specifically, a whitlow (“infection near or under the cuticle of a fingernail or toenail”).
Translations[edit]
small infected sore — see abscess,‎ boil,‎ sore
whitlow — see whitlow

References[edit]

  1. ^ “felǒun, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “felon, adj. and n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, July 2023; “felon1, n. and adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “felǒun, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. ^ “felǒun, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. ^ “felon, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “felon2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

Esperanto[edit]

Noun[edit]

felon

  1. accusative singular of felo

Old French[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Early Medieval Latin fellōnem.

Noun[edit]

felon oblique singular, m (oblique plural felons, nominative singular felons, nominative plural felon)[1][2]

  1. evildoer; wrongdoer
  2. immoral person

Declension[edit]

  Declension of felon  
Number Case Masculine Feminine
Singular Subject felons felone
Oblique felon felone
Plural Subject felon felones
Oblique felons felones

Adjective[edit]

felon m (oblique and nominative feminine singular felone)

  1. bastard; idiot (a general pejorative)
  2. evil; bad; immoral

Declension[edit]

Declension of felon
Number Case Masculine Feminine Neuter
Singular Subject felons felone felon
Oblique felon felone felon
Plural Subject felon felones felon
Oblique felons felones felon

Related terms[edit]

Descendants[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (1. felon)
  2. ^
  3. ^ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “fel”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Romanian[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Old Church Slavonic фелонь (felonĭ), from Ancient Greek φελόνιον (phelónion).

Noun[edit]

felon n (plural feloane)

  1. cape worn by the priest over the liturgical garments

Declension[edit]

Declension of felon
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
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