treason

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traïson (“treason”), from Latin trāditiōnem, accusative of trāditiō (“a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition”), from trādō (“give up, hand over, deliver over, betray”, verb), from trāns- (“over, across”) +‎ dō (“give”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtriː.zən/
• Rhymes: -iːzən

Noun

treason (plural treasons)

1. The crime of betraying one’s own country.
   • 1613, John Harington, “Book iv, Epigram 5”, in Alcilia:

     Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason? Why, if it doth, then none dare call it treason.

   • 1952, James Avery Joyce: Justice At Work: (this edition Pan 1957) Page 105.

     Formerly, the punishment for high treason was of a most barbarous character…. Women were burnt. A male traitor was dragged or drawn to the place of execution and hanged; but while still alive, he was cut down and disembowelled. His head was then severed from his body which was quartered. The head and quarters, which were at the Kings disposal, were usually exposed in some conspicuous place—the Temple Bar being a favourite spot—after being boiled in salt to prevent putrification and in cumin seed to prevent birds feasting on them.

2. Providing aid and comfort to the enemy.

Related terms

• traitor
• traitorous
• treasonable

Synonyms

• betrayal

Translations

crime of betraying one’s government

• Arabic: خيانة f (xiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (davačanutʿyun)
• Belarusian: здрада f (zdráda)
• Bulgarian: измяна (bg) f (izmjána), предателство (bg) n (predátelstvo)
• Catalan: traïció f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背叛 (zh) (bèipàn), 叛國罪 (zh), 叛国罪 (pànguózuì), 叛國, 叛国 (zh) (pànguó), 出賣, 出卖 (zh) (chūmài)

• Czech: velezrada f, vlastizrada f, zrada f
• Danish: forræderi
• Dutch: hoogverraad (nl) n, landverraad n
• Finnish: valtiopetos (fi), maanpetos (fi), petos (fi), pettäminen (fi)
• French: trahison (fr) f
• German: Verrat (de) m
• Greek: εθνική προδοσία f (ethnikí prodosía)
• Hebrew: בגידה (he) f (bgida)
• Icelandic: landráð (is) n pl, svik (is) n pl, föðurlandssvik (is) n pl
• Irish: tréas m
• Italian: tradimento (it) m
• Japanese: 反逆 (はんぎゃく, hangyaku)

• Jèrriais: trahison f
• Korean: 배신 (ko) (baesin) (背信 (ko))
• Macedonian: предавство n (prédavstvo)
• Norwegian: forræderi

  Bokmål: landssvik n

  Nynorsk: landssvik n

• Polish: zdrada (pl) f
• Portuguese: traição (pt) f
• Russian: государственная измена (ru) f (gosudárstvennaja izména), предательство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo), измена (ru) f (izména)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: издаја f, издајство n

  Roman: izdaja f, izdajstvo n

• Slovak: zrada f
• Slovene: izdaja (sl) f, izdajstvo n
• Spanish: traición (es) f
• Swedish: förräderi (sv)
• Telugu: ద్రోహం (te) (drōhaṁ)
• Turkish: ihanet (tr)
• Ukrainian: зрада f (zráda)
• Vietnamese: sự phản bội (vi) (sự (vi) + 反背)

providing aid and comfort to the enemy

• Arabic: خيانة f (xiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (davačanutʿyun)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背叛 (zh) (bèipàn), 叛國罪 (zh), 叛国罪 (pànguózuì), 叛國, 叛国 (zh) (pànguó)

• Dutch: verraad (nl) n
• Finnish: maanpetos (fi)

• Greek: προδοσία (el) f (prodosía)
• Japanese: 裏切り (うらぎり, uragiri)
• Macedonian: предавство n (prédavstvo)
• Polish: kolaboracja (pl) f
• Russian: измена (ru) f (izména), предательство (ru) n (predátel'stvo)
• Spanish: (derogatory) colaboracionista m, f

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ღალატი (ḡalati)
• Korean: 반역 (ko) (banyeok), 물신 (bulsin)

• Portuguese: traição (pt) f
• Telugu: దేశద్రోహం (dESadrOhaM)

See also

• sedition

External links

• treason in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• treason in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911

Anagrams

• atoners
• nor'-east
• rotanes
• senator