Felon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈfÉ›lÉ™n/
• Rhymes: -É›lÉ™n

Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun ("traitor, wretch"), from Frankish *felo ("wicked person"), from Proto-Germanic *fillô, *filjô ("flayer, whipper, scoundrel"), from 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 Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- ("to stir, move, swing") (compare Old Irish adellaim 'I seek', diellaim 'I yield', 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"), Old Armenian հալածեմ (halacem, "I pursue").

Full definition of felon

Noun

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. (legal) A person who has been tried and convicted of a felony.

Synonyms

• (one who has committed a felony) criminal; convict; malefactor; culprit

Related terms

• felonious
• felony

Probably from Latin fel ("gall, poison").

Noun

1. (medicine) A bacterial infection at the end of a finger or toe.