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], 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:

• From Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”) (said by the Oxford English Dictionary to be “the most probable”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green; yellow”), or from *bʰel-, *bʰl̥H- (“yellow”).
• From Medieval Latin fellō (“barbarian; criminal”, noun), either:
  • from Frankish *falljō (“wicked person, evildoer”), from Proto-West Germanic *falu (“cruel; evil”), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“bad, terrible; cruel”), from Proto-Indo-European *pol- (“to flee; to float; to flow; to fly; to pour; to swim”); or
  • from Old High German *fillo, from fillen (“to beat; to whip”), from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move, swing”).

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], from feloun, felun (adjective): see above.

cognates

• Italian fellone (adjective, noun)
• Middle High German vālant (“imp”)
• Occitan felon, felhon, fellon (adjective)
• Spanish fellon (adjective, noun)

Adjective

felon

1. (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.

2. (by extension) Of a place: harsh, savage, wild; of a thing: deadly; harmful.
   • 1637, 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, […], →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!

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

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

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.
   • 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.

Hypernyms

• (one who has committed a felony): criminal, (if convicted) convict, culprit, malefactor

Derived terms

• feloness (rare)
• felonious
• feloniousness
• felonish (obsolete, rare)
• felonly (obsolete)
• felonously (obsolete)
• felonous (obsolete)
• felonry

 

Related terms

• felonize
• felony

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 (prestǎ́pnik), престъ́пница f (prestǎ́pnica), престъ́пничка f (prestǎ́pnička)
• Catalan: delinqüent (ca)
• Czech: zločinec (cs) m
• Danish: forbryder (da) c
• Finnish: rikoksentekijä (fi), rikollinen (fi)
• French: criminel (fr) m, criminelle (fr) f
• German: Straftäter (de) m, Straftäterin (de) f, Verbrecher (de) m, Verbrecherin (de) f, Schwerverbrecher (de) m, Schwerverbrecherin (de) f, Kapitalverbrecher m, Kapitalverbrecherin f
• 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
• Latin: scelestus (la) m
• Macedonian: зло́сторник m (zlóstornik), злосто́рничка f (zlostórnička)
• Malay: penjenayah berat
• Plautdietsch: Vebräakja m
• Polish: zbrodniarz (pl) m, zbrodniarka f
• Russian: престу́пник (ru) m (prestúpnik), престу́пница (ru) f (prestúpnica)
• Slovak: zločinec m
• Spanish: delincuente (es) m or f, criminal (es) m or f
• 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”), possibly from Old French *felon, from Latin fel (“bile, gall; bitterness; poison; venom”): see etymology 1.

Noun

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”).
   • 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

Further reading

• felony on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• whitlow on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “felon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “felon”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• flone

Esperanto

Noun

felon

1. accusative singular of felo

Old French

Alternative forms

• felun, feloun, felloun

Etymology

From Medieval Latin fellō.

Noun

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

1. evildoer; wrongdoer
2. immoral person

Declension

  Declension of felon  

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)

1. bastard; idiot (a general pejorative)
2. 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)

Declension

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

• felonie

Descendants

• Middle French: felon
  • French: félon
• Norman: fflon
• Picard: fèlôn
• → Middle Dutch: fel, felle (reborrowing)
• → Middle English: felun, feloun
  • Scots: felloun
  • English: felon
    • → Scots: felon, fellin
• → Galician: felón
• → Spanish: felón

Romanian

Etymology

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

Noun

felon n (plural feloane)

1. cape worn by the priest over the liturgical garments

Declension

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