felon

See also félon

English

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfɛlən/
• Rhymes: -ɛlən

Etymology 1

Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun (“traitor, wretch”), from Old Low Franconian *felo (“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 adellaim 'I seek', diellaim 'I yield', Umbrian pelsatu 'to overcome, conquer', Latin pellere (“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)

1. 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.

2. (law) A person who has been tried and convicted of a felony.

Synonyms

• (one who has committed a felony): criminal; convict; malefactor; culprit

Related terms

• felonious
• felony

Translations

a person convicted of a crime

• Bulgarian: престъпник (bg) m (prestǎpnik)
• Czech: zločinec (cs) m
• Danish: forbryder (da) c

• Finnish: rikoksentekijä (fi), rikollinen (fi)
• German: Verbrecher (de) m, Schwerverbrecher (de) m
• Russian: престу́пник (ru) (prestúpnik) m 
• Spanish: delincuente (es) m and f, criminal (es) m and f

Etymology 2

Probably from Latin fel.

Noun

felon (plural felons)

1. A bacterial infection of the pad at the end of a finger or toe.

References

• felon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

---

Old French

Etymology

From Frankish, see above

Noun

felon m (oblique plural felons, nominative singular felons, nominative plural felon)

1. evildoer; wrongdoer

Adjective

felon m (feminine felone)

1. evil; bad; immoral

Related terms

• felonie