felon

See also: félon and felón

English

WOTD – 8 November 2023

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) enPR: fĕlʹən, IPA^(key): /ˈfɛlən/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Rhymes: -ɛlən
Hyphenation: fel‧on

Etymology 1

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 Early Medieval Latin fellōnem; further etymology uncertain.

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

Adjective 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],^[2] from feloun, felun (adjective): see above.

Cognates

Catalan felló (adjective)
French félon (adjective, noun)
Italian fellone (adjective, noun)
Occitan felon, felhon, fellon (adjective)
Spanish felón (adjective, noun)

Adjective

felon

(chiefly poetic) Of a person or animal, their actions, thoughts, etc.: brutal, cruel, harsh, heartless; also, evil, wicked.
- 1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 138:
  For Courteſies, tho' undeſerv'd and great, / No gratitude in Fellon-minds beget, / As tribute to his VVit, the churl receives the treat.
- 1725, Homer, “Book IV”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 187, lines 709–712:
  And tvventy youths in radiant mail incas'd, / Cloſe ambuſh'd nigh the ſpacious hall he plac'd. / Then bids prepare the hoſpitable treat: / Vain ſhevvs of love to veil his felon hate!
- 1736, [James] Thomson, Britain: Being the Fourth Part of Liberty, a Poem, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, page 83, lines 1188–1191:
  Nor outvvard Tempeſt, nor corroſive Time, / Nought but the felon undermining Hand / Of dark Corruption, can it's Frame diſſolve, / And lay the Toil of Ages in the duſt.
- 1813, Lord Byron, The Giaour, a Fragment of a Turkish Tale, London: […] T[homas] Davison, […], for John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 20:
  Yes, Leila sleeps beneath the wave, / But his shall be a redder grave; / Her spirit pointed well the steel / Which taught that felon heart to feel.
(by extension) Of a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
- 1637 (date written; published 1638), John Milton, “Lycidas”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 61:
  He ask'd the VVaves, and ask'd the Fellon vvinds, / VVhat hard miſhap hath doom'd this gentle ſvvain?
- 1781 (date written), William Cowper, “Truth”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1782, →OCLC, page 95:
  Thus often unbelief grovvn ſick of life, / Flies to the tempting pool or felon knife, / The jury meet, the coroner is ſhort, / And lunacy the verdict of the court: […]
- 1814, Walter Scott, “[Miscellaneous Poems.] On the Massacre of Glencoe”, in The Poetical Works of Walter Scott, Esq. […], volume XII, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Company] for Arch[ibald] Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; and John Murray, published 1820, →OCLC, page 142:
  The hand that mingled in the meal, / At midnight drew the felon steel, / And gave the host's kind breast to feel / Meed for his hospitality!
(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

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

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Woiwurrung: ^{(please verify)} nilimjak-koorren

Noun

felon (plural felons)

(criminal law) A person who has committed a felony (“a serious criminal offence”); specifically, one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime.
Hypernyms: criminal, convict (if convicted), culprit, malefactor
- 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, 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.
(obsolete) An evil or wicked person.
- 1697, Virgil, “The Sixth Book of the Æneis”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 386, lines 801–804:
  But he, the King of Heav'n, obſcure on high, / Bar'd his red Arm, and launching from the Sky / His vvrithen Bolt, not ſhaking empty Smoak, / Dovvn to the deep Abyſs the flaming Felon ſtrook.
  Referring to Lucifer who was cast out of heaven by God.
- 1815, Walter Scott, “Canto Third”, in The Lord of the Isles, a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [F]or Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown; by James Ballantyne and Co., […], →OCLC, stanza XXIX, page 119:
  The master'd felon press'd the ground, / And gasp'd beneath a mortal wound, / While o'er him stands the Bruce.
(obsolete, by extension) A predatory animal regarded as cruel or wicked.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

person who has committed a felony; one who has been tried and convicted of such a crime

Belarusian: злачы́нец m (zlačýnjec), злачы́нка f (zlačýnka)
Bulgarian: престъ́пник (bg) m (prestắpnik), престъ́пница f (prestắpnica), престъ́пничка f (prestắpnička)
Catalan: delinqüent (ca)
Czech: zločinec (cs) m
Danish: forbryder (da) c
Dutch: delinquent (nl), misdadiger (nl)
Finnish: rikoksentekijä (fi), rikollinen (fi)
French: criminel (fr) m, criminelle (fr) f, délinquant (fr) m
German: Straftäter (de) m, Straftäterin (de) f, Verbrecher (de) m, Verbrecherin (de) f, Schwerverbrecher (de) m, Schwerverbrecherin (de) f, Kapitalverbrecher m, Kapitalverbrecherin f, Schwerkrimineller (de) m
Greek: εγκληματίας (el) m or f (egklimatías), κακοποιός (el) m or f (kakopoiós)
Hebrew: פּוֹשֵׁעַ (he) m (poshéa')
Indonesian: narapidana (id)
Italian: criminale (it) m
Kazakh: қылмыскер (qılmısker)
Latin: scelestus (la) m
Macedonian: зло́сторник m (zlóstornik), злосто́рничка f (zlostórnička)
Malay: penjenayah berat
Plautdietsch: Vebräakja m
Polish: zbrodniarz (pl) m, zbrodniarka f
Romanian: infractor (ro) m
Russian: престу́пник (ru) m (prestúpnik), престу́пница (ru) f (prestúpnica)
Slovak: zločinec m
Spanish: delincuente (es) m or f, criminal (es) m or f, felón (es) m
Swedish: förbrytare (sv) c, brottsling (sv) c
Ukrainian: злочи́нець m (zločýnecʹ), злочи́нниця f (zločýnnycja)

Etymology 2

From Middle English feloun, felone (“type of carbuncle or sore with pus; swelling on a hawk’s body”),^[3] possibly from Old French *felon, from Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”): see etymology 1.^[4]

Noun

felon (plural felons)

(pathology, veterinary medicine) A small infected sore; an abscess, a boil.
2. (often specifically) A whitlow (“infection near or under a fingernail or toenail”).
  - 1874, Thomas Hardy, “In the Sun—a Harbinger”, in Far from the Madding Crowd. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 31:
    He hev been away from home for a few days, since he's had that felon upon his finger; for a' said, since I can't work I'll have a hollerday.

Translations

small infected sore — see abscess,‎ boil,‎ sore

whitlow — see whitlow

References

^ “felǒun, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “felǒun, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “felǒun, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “felon, n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “felon², n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

flone

Cornish

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English felon.

Noun

felon m (plural felons)

felon, delinquent

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

felon (collective)

chickweed (Stellaria media) (when used as a cure)

Related terms

glydh (“chickweed itself, when not used as a cure”)

References

“felon” in Cornish Dictionary / Gerlyver Kernewek, Akademi Kernewek.

Esperanto

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈfelon/
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -elon
Syllabification: fe‧lon

Noun

felon

accusative singular of felo

Old French

Alternative forms

felun, feloun, felloun

Etymology

From Early Medieval Latin fellōnem. The subject case is fel, from the nominative fellō.

Noun

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

evildoer, wrongdoer
immoral person
bastard, idiot (a general pejorative)

Usage notes

In later Old French, 'felon' was also used as nominative singular.^[3]

Adjective

felon m (feminine felone)

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 quotation)
cruel, vicious
vile, despicable
- c. 1170, Chrétien de Troyes, Érec et Énide:
  "Fui!" fet Erec, "nains enuiieus!
  Trop es fel et contraliieus.["]
  "Flee" said Erec "pesky dwarf!
  You are too vile and maddening"

Declension

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

Related terms

felonie

Descendants

Middle French: felon
- French: félon
Norman: fflon
Picard: fèlôn
→ Middle English: felun, feloun
- Scots: felloun
- English: felon
  - → Scots: felon, fellin
→ Galician: felón
→ Spanish: felón

References

^ Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “1. felon”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.
^ “felun_1”, in Anglo-Norman Dictionary, 2nd edition, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: Aberystwyth University, 2001–2026.
^ Fello in: Diez, Friedrich (1887), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Sprachen

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed 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	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	felon	felonul	feloane	feloanele
genitive-dative	felon	felonului	feloane	feloanelor
vocative	felonule		feloanelor

[1] “felǒun, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[2] “felǒun, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[3] “felǒun, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

[4] “felon, n.²”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “felon², n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

[5] Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “1. felon”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC.

[6] “felun_1”, in Anglo-Norman Dictionary, 2nd edition, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion: Aberystwyth University, 2001–2026.

[7] Fello in: Diez, Friedrich (1887), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Sprachen

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[1]

[2]

[3]

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Adjective

Translations

Noun

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

Translations

References

Further reading

Anagrams

Cornish

Etymology 1

Noun

Etymology 2

Noun

Related terms

References

Esperanto

Pronunciation

Noun

Old French

Alternative forms

Etymology

Noun

Usage notes

Adjective

Declension

Related terms

Descendants

References

Romanian

Etymology

Noun

Declension