felon English · revision 1008

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈfɛlən/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|enm|feloun]], [[bor|fro|felon|t=wicked person, traitor]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) [[der|la-med|fellō]],^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline) of uncertain origin.^(Etymonline) It is perhaps from [[frk|*fillo|t=one who whips, scourger]], related to Old High German ''fillen'' “to whip”,^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) or from [[la|fel|t=gall]], as if “one full of bitterness”, the explanation the OED inclines to.^(Etymonline) The ''felon'' that means an infected sore is probably a different word, perhaps also from Latin ''fel''.^(AHD)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A wicked person, a villain, sometimes applied to the Devil (before 1300).^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As an adjective the word meant “cruel, fierce, wicked” (before 1300), a sense now poetic.^(OED 1989)^(MW Collegiate) By about 1300 it was also used in a legal sense for a criminal, one who has committed a [[felony]],^(Etymonline) and this became the main modern meaning,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) while the general sense “villain” is archaic.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1116 – a small abscess or inflamed sore (a separate word).^(OED 1989)

+ * before 1300 – a wicked person; adjective, cruel, wicked.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1300 – one who has committed a felony.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1578 – a whitlow near the fingernail.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(law)'' A person who has committed a [[felony]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(archaic)'' An evil person; a [[villain]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A painful infection at the end of a finger or toe near the nail; a [[whitlow]].^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(archaic)'' Evil, cruel or wicked.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[felonious]]

+ * [[felonry]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[felony]]

+ * [[fell]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}