felon

See also: félon and felón

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɛlən/
• Rhymes: -ɛlən

Etymology 1

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English felun, feloun, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Anglo-Norman felun (“traitor, wretch”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Medieval Latin fellō, fellōnis, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Frankish *fellō (“wicked person”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *fillô, *filjô (“flayer, whipper, scoundrel”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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 (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move, swing”) (compare (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old Irish adellaim 'I seek', diellaim 'I yield', (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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”), (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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.
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: престъ̀пник (bg) m (prestǎ̀pnik)
• Catalan: delinqüent (ca)
• Czech: zločinec (cs) m
• Danish: forbryder (da) c
• Finnish: rikoksentekijä, rikollinen (fi)
• German: Verbrecher (de) m, Schwerverbrecher m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Greek: εγκληματίας (el) m or f (egklimatías), κακοποιός (el) m or f (kakopoiós)
• Italian: criminale (it) m
• Russian: престу́пник (ru) m (prestúpnik), престу́пница (ru) f (prestúpnica)
• Spanish: delincuente (es) m or f, criminal (es) m or f
• Swedish: förbrytare (sv), brottsling (sv) c
• Ukrainian: злочи́нець m (zločýnecʹ), злочи́нниця f (zločýnnycja)

Adjective

felon

1. wicked; cruel

Etymology 2

Probably from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] 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”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• flone

---

Old French

Alternative forms

• felun, feloun, felloun

Etymology

From Medieval Latin fellō, from Frankish *fellō (“evildoer”).

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

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
• → Spanish: felón