treason

English

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): /ˈtɹiː.zən/
• Rhymes: -iːzən

Noun

treason (countable and uncountable, 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.

Derived terms

• treasonable
• treasonableness
• treasonably
• treasonist
• treasonistic
• treasonistically
• treasonous
• treasonously
• treasonousness

Related terms

• traitor
• traitorlike
• traitorly
• traitorous
• traitorously
• traitorousness

Synonyms

• betrayal
• perfidiousness
• perfidy
• treacherousness
• treachery

Translations

crime of betraying one’s government

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: خِيَانَة‎ f (ḵiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (hy) (davačanutʿyun), մատնություն (hy) (matnutʿyun)
• Azeri: xəyanət (az)
• Belarusian: здрада f (zdráda)
• Bulgarian: измяна (bg) f (izmjána), предателство (bg) n (predátelstvo)
• Catalan: traïció (ca) f
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: velezrada (cs) f, vlastizrada f, zrada f
• Danish: forræderi n, landsforræderi n
• Dutch: hoogverraad (nl) n, landverraad n
• Esperanto: perfido
• Estonian: reetmine
• Finnish: valtiopetos (fi), maanpetos (fi), petos (fi), pettäminen (fi)
• French: trahison (fr) f
• Georgian: ღალატი (ɣalaṭi)
• German: Verrat (de) m, Landesverrat (de) m
• Greek: εθνική προδοσία f (ethnikí prodosía)
• Hebrew: בְּגִידָה \ בגידה‎ (he) f (bgidá)
• Hungarian: árulás (hu), hitszegés (hu)
• Icelandic: landráð (is) n pl, svik (is) n pl, föðurlandssvik (is) n pl
• Ido: trahizo (io)
• Indonesian: pengkhianatan (id)
• Irish: tréas m
• Italian: tradimento (it) m
• Japanese: 反逆 (はんぎゃく, hangyaku), 裏切り (うらぎり, ​uragiri)
• Khmer: ការក្បត់ (kaa kbɑt)
• Korean: 배신 (ko) (baesin) (背信 (ko)), 배반 (ko) (baeban)

• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Latvian: nodevība f
• Lithuanian: išdavystė (lt) f
• Macedonian: предавство n (prédavstvo)
• Maori: kaikaiwaiūtanga, kaikaiwaiū
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: trahison f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: landssvik n, forræderi n, landsforræderi n

  Nynorsk: landssvik n, forræderi n, landsforræderi n

• Persian: خیانت‎ (fa) (xeyânat)
• Polish: zdrada (pl) f
• Portuguese: traição (pt) f
• Romanian: trădare (ro)
• Russian: госуда́рственная изме́на (ru) f (gosudárstvennaja izména), преда́тельство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo), изме́на (ru) f (izména)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: издаја f, издајство n

  Roman: izdaja (sh) f, izdajstvo n

• Slovak: zrada f
• Slovene: izdaja (sl) f, izdajstvo n
• Spanish: traición (es) f
• Swedish: förräderi (sv) n, landsförräderi n
• Telugu: ద్రోహం (te) (drōhaṃ)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: ihanet (tr)
• Ukrainian: зрада f (zráda)
• Vietnamese: sự phản bội (vi) (sự (vi) + 反背)
• Volapük: trät (vo)

providing aid and comfort to the enemy

• Arabic: خِيَانَة‎ f (ḵiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (hy) (davačanutʿyun), մատնություն (hy) (matnutʿyun)
• Chinese:

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

• Czech: kolaborace (cs) f
• 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
• Portuguese: colaboração (pt) f
• Russian: изме́на (ru) f (izména), преда́тельство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo)
• Spanish: (derogatory) colaboracionista m, f
• Swedish: förräderi (sv) n

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 Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ღალატი (ɣalaṭi)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 반역 (ko) (banyeok), ^{(please verify)} 물신 (bulsin)

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} దేశద్రోహం (dēśadrōhaṃ)

See also

• sedition

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• Senator, anteros, atoners, nor'-east, noseart, one-star, orantes, rotanes, senator, tenoras