vilão

See also: vilao and vilaõ

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Late Latin vīllānus (“farm worker”), from vīlla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /βiˈlã.u/

Noun

vilão m (plural vilãos)

1. villein, peasant
   • a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 128 (facsimile):

     Eſta e do corpo de n[oſtr]o ſennor / que un vilão metera en hũa / ſa colmẽa por aver muito mel / i muita cera […]

     This one is (about) the body of our Lord, which a peasant placed in one of his beehives because there was a lot of honey and a lot of wax […]

Descendants

• Galician: vilán
• Portuguese: vilão, vilaõ, villaõ, villão (obsolete)
  • Macanese: vilám

Portuguese

Um vilão (sense 2) esterotípico. ― A stereotypical villain.

Alternative forms

• vilaõ, villaõ, villão (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese vilão, from Late Latin vīllānus (“farm worker”), from vīlla +‎ -ānus. Cognate with Galician vilán and Spanish villano. By surface analysis, vila +‎ -ão.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /viˈlɐ̃w̃/ [viˈlɐ̃ʊ̯̃]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈlɐ̃w̃/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈlɐ̃w̃/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈlɐ̃w̃/

• Rhymes: -ɐ̃w̃
• Hyphenation: vi‧lão

Noun

vilão m (plural vilões or (rare) vilães or (rare) vilãos, feminine vilã or (rare) viloa, feminine plural vilãs or (rare) viloas)

1. townsperson (inhabitant of a town)
3. villain (a vile, wicked person)
   1. villain (bad person in a work of fiction)

      Synonym: malfeitor

      Antonym: herói

4. something which causes a problem
5. (historical) villein (a feudal tenant)
6. (obsolete) a non-noble who lives in a city or village

Derived terms

• cavaleiro-vilão

Adjective

vilão (feminine vilã or (rare) viloa, masculine plural vilões or (rare) vilães or (rare) vilãos, feminine plural vilãs or (rare) viloas)

1. related to a town
2. rural

   Synonym: camponês

   Antonym: urbano

3. villainous (of, relating to, or appropriate to a villain)

   Synonyms: vilanaço, vilanaz, vilanesco

4. (uncommon) coarse (lacking refinement)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:grosseiro

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:grosseiro

5. vile; wicked

   Synonyms: maldoso, maligno, malvado, mau, perverso, vil

   Antonyms: benigno, bom, bondoso

Related terms

• vil
• vila
• vilãmente
• vilanaço
• vilanagem
• vilanaz
• vilanesco
• vilania

Descendants

• Macanese: vilám

References

• “vilão”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “vilão” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “vilão”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025
• “vilão”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “vilão”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025