different between felon vs miscreant

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: f?l'?n, IPA^(key): /?f?l?n/
• Rhymes: -?l?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun (“traitor, wretch”), from Medieval Latin fell?, from Frankish *fell? (“wicked person”), from Proto-Germanic *fillô, *filjô (“flayer, whipper, scoundrel”), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“cruel, evil”) (compare English fell (“fierce”), Middle High German v?lant (“imp”)), related to *fellan? (compare Dutch villen, German fillen (“to whip, beat”), both from Proto-Indo-European *pelh?- (“to stir, move, swing”) (compare Old Irish ad·ella (“to seek”), di·ella (“to yield”), Umbrian pelsatu (“to overcome, conquer”), Latin pell? (“to drive, beat”), Latvian lijuôs, pl?tiês (“to force, impose”), Ancient Greek ????? (pélas, “near”), ???????? (pílnamai, “I approach”), Old Armenian ??????? (halacem, “I pursue”).

Noun

felon (plural felons)

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. (law) A person who has been tried and convicted of a felony.
3. A wicked person.

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• felonious
• felonize
• felony

Translations

Adjective

felon

1. wicked; cruel

Etymology 2

Probably from Latin fel (“gall, poison”).

Noun

felon (plural felons)

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

See also

• whitlow

References

• felon in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• felon at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• flone

Esperanto

Noun

felon

1. accusative singular of felo

Old French

Alternative forms

• felun, feloun, felloun

Etymology

From Medieval Latin fell?, from Frankish *fell? (“evildoer”).

Noun

felon m (oblique plural felons, nominative singular felons, nominative plural felon)

1. evildoer; wrongdoer
2. immoral person

Declension

Adjective

felon m (oblique and nominative feminine singular felone)

1. bastard; idiot (a general pejorative)
2. evil; bad; immoral

Declension

Related terms

• felonie

Descendants

• Middle French: felon
  • French: félon
• Norman: fflon
• Picard: fèlôn
• ? Middle Dutch: fel, felle (reborrowing)
• ? Middle English: felun, feloun
  • Scots: felloun
  • English: felon
    • ? Scots: felon, fellin
• ? Galician: felón
• ? Spanish: felón

References

Romanian

Etymology

From Old Church Slavonic ?????? (felon?), from Ancient Greek ???????? (phelónion).

Noun

felon n (plural feloane)

1. cape worn by the priest over the liturgical garments

Declension

English

Alternative forms

• miscreaunt (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French mescreant (1080) "mis-believer", present participle of mescreire "to misbelieve" (modern mécroire).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: m?s?kr?-?nt, IPA^(key): /?m?s.k?i.?nt/

Adjective

miscreant (comparative more miscreant, superlative most miscreant)

1. Lacking in conscience or moral principles; unscrupulous.
2. (theology) Holding an incorrect religious belief.

Translations

Noun

miscreant (plural miscreants)

1. One who has behaved badly, or illegally.

   The teacher sent the miscreants to see the school principal.

2. One not restrained by moral principles; an unscrupulous villain.
   • a. 1719, Joseph Addison, A Riddle of Dean Swift's verfified

     A meagre Catchpole hurries me to fail; No Miscreant, so remorseless, ever tore
     Thy Journals, Fog, or knock'd at Franklin's door

3. (theology) One who holds a false religious belief; a misbeliever.

   • That hast with knightlesse guile and trecherous train

     Faire knighthood fowly shamed

   (Can we find and add a quotation of De Quincey to this entry?)

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:miscreant.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:troublemaker
• See also Thesaurus:villain

Translations

Anagrams

• Encratism, minecarts