felon

See also: félon and felón

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: fĕlʹən; IPA^(key): /ˈfɛl.ən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlən

Etymology 1

From Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun (“traitor, wretch”), from Medieval Latin fellō, from Frankish *fellō (“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 ad·ella (“to seek”), di·ella (“to yield”), Umbrian pelsatu (“to overcome, conquer”), Latin pellō (“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, published 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.
3. A wicked person.

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• felonious
• felonize
• felony

Translations

a person convicted of 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, 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)
• Indonesian: narapidana (id)
• Italian: criminale (it) m
• Latin: scelestus (la) m
• Plautdietsch: Vebräakja m
• Polish: kryminalista (pl) m, kryminalistka (pl) f, przestępca (pl) m, przestępczyni (pl) f, 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)

Adjective

felon

1. wicked; cruel

Etymology 2

Probably from Latin fel (“gall, poison”).

Noun

felon (plural felons)

1. (medicine) A bacterial infection at the end of a finger or toe.

See also

• whitlow

References

• “felon”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• felon at 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, from Frankish *fellō (“evildoer”).

Noun

felon 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