treason

English

Etymology

From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traïson (“treason”), from trair, or 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”). Doublet of tradition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiː.zən/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• 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.

2. An act of treachery, betrayal of trust or confidence.

Synonyms

• betrayal
• perfidiousness
• perfidy
• treacherousness
• treachery

Derived terms

• high treason
• petit treason/petty treason
• treasonable
• treasonableness
• treasonably
• treasonist
• treasonistic
• treasonistically
• treasonous
• treasonously
• treasonousness

 

Related terms

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

 

Translations

crime of betraying one’s country

• Albanian: tradhti (sq) f
• Arabic: خِيَانَة‎ f (ḵiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (hy) (davačanutʿyun), մատնություն (hy) (matnutʿyun)
• Azerbaijani: xəyanət (az)
• Belarusian: здра́да f (zdráda)
• Bulgarian: измя́на (bg) f (izmjána), преда́телство (bg) n (predátelstvo)
• Burmese: အတွင်းရန် (my) (a.twang:ran)
• Catalan: traïció (ca) f
• Cebuano: pagluib, pagbudhi
• 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: verraad (nl) n, hoogverraad (nl) n, landverraad (nl) n
• Esperanto: perfido
• Estonian: reetmine
• Finnish: valtiopetos (fi), maanpetos (fi), petos (fi), pettäminen (fi)
• French: trahison (fr) f
• Galician: traizón f
• Georgian: ღალატი (ɣalaṭi)
• German: Verrat (de) m, Landesverrat (de) m
• Greek: προδοσία (el) f (prodosía)

  Ancient: προδοσία f (prodosía)

• Hebrew: בְּגִידָה \ בגידה‎ (he) f (bgidá)
• Hindi: विश्वासघात (hi) m (viśvāsghāt), राज-द्रोह m (rāj-droh)
• 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)
• Kazakh: сатқындық (satqındıq), опасыздық (opasızdıq)
• Khmer: ការក្បត់ (kaa kbɑt)
• Korean: 배신(背信) (ko) (baesin), 배반 (ko) (baeban)

• Kyrgyz: чыккынчылык (ky) (çıqqınçılıq)
• Lao: ການຂາຽຊາດ (kān khāi sāt)
• Latin: prōditiō f
• Latvian: nodevība f
• Lithuanian: išdavystė (lt) f
• Macedonian: предавство n (predavstvo)
• Malay: pengkhianatan
• Malayalam: രാജ്യദ്രോഹം (rājyadrōhaṃ)
• Maori: kaikaiwaiūtanga, kaikaiwaiū
• Mongolian: урвалт (mn) (urvalt)
• Norman: trahison f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: landssvik n, forræderi n, landsforræderi n, høyforræderi n

  Nynorsk: landssvik n, forræderi n, landsforræderi n

• Pashto: خيانت‎ (ps) m (xyānát)
• Persian: خیانت‎ (fa) (xiyânat)
• 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: и̏здаја f, ѝзда̄јство n

  Roman: ȉzdaja (sh) f, ìzdājstvo n

• Slovak: zrada f
• Slovene: izdaja (sl) f, izdajstvo n
• Spanish: traición (es) f
• Swedish: förräderi (sv) n, landsförräderi (sv) n
• Tajik: хиёнат (xiyonat), хоинӣ (tg) (xoyinī), ғаддори (ġaddori)
• Tamil: துரோகம் (ta) (turōkam)
• Telugu: ద్రోహం (te) (drōhaṃ)
• Thai: การกบฏ (th) (gaan-gà-bòt), การขายชาติ (th) (gaan-kǎai-châat)
• Turkish: ihanet (tr), hainlik (tr)
• Turkmen: haýynlyk, dönüklik
• Ukrainian: зра́да f (zráda), державна зрада f (deržavna zrada), держзрада f (deržzrada)
• Uyghur: ساتقۇنلۇق‎ (satqunluq)
• Uzbek: hiyonat, xoinlik (uz), sotqinlik (uz)
• 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)
• Catalan: col·laboracionisme m, quintacolumnisme m
• Cebuano: pagbudhi
• 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
• Danish: kollaboration c
• Dutch: verraad (nl) n
• Finnish: maanpetos (fi)

• Galician: traizón f
• Greek: προδοσία (el) f (prodosía)

  Ancient: προδοσία f (prodosía)

• Italian: collaborazionismo (it) m, connivenza (it) f
• Japanese: 裏切り (うらぎり, uragiri)
• Macedonian: предавство n (predavstvo)
• Malayalam: ഒറ്റ് (ml) (oṟṟŭ)
• Polish: kolaboracja (pl) f
• Portuguese: colaboração (pt) f
• Russian: изме́на (ru) f (izména), преда́тельство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo)
• Spanish: colaboración con el enemigo f, colaboracionismo m
• Swedish: förräderi (sv) n

act of treachery

• Catalan: traïció (ca) f
• French: trahison (fr)

• Galician: traizón f
• Spanish: traición (es) 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 Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

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

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

See also

• sedition

References

• treason at OneLook Dictionary Search
• “treason” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• treason in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Santore, Senator, anteros, asteron, atoners, nor'-east, nose art, noseart, one-star, orantes, ornates, roneats, rotanes, santero, seatron, senator, tenoras

---

Middle English

Noun

treason

1. Alternative form of tresoun