traitor means traitorous. It carries an Arena rating of 1512, earned across 2 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, traitor ranks #874 of 42,762 for Qualifying, #1,377 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #2,240 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words, #5,241 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words.
traitor is pronounced /ˈtɹeɪtə(ɹ)/.
Why “traitor” is a great word
A person who betrays a country, cause, or trust, especially by acting in allegiance to an enemy. From Middle English traitor, traitour, from Old French traïtor, from Latin trāditor ("betrayer, one who hands over"), from trādere ("to hand over, deliver, betray"), first recorded in English between 1175 and 1225. Unlike "betrayer," a general term for broken confidence, or "quisling," a specific label for collaboration with an occupier, "traitor" carries the ancient, public weight of forsaken oaths. It is the chill of a familiar hand opening the city gate, the intimate confidence whispered to a rival, and the final turn of a face away from a shared fire—a severance not just of loyalty, but of a shared world, where the deepest wounds come from those who knew the password and chose, deliberately, to hand you over.
Etymology
From Middle English traitor, traitour, traytour, from Old French traïtor (French traître), from Latin trāditor. Displaced native Middle English swike from Old English swica (“traitor”), and Middle English proditour and traditour borrowed directly from Latin. The general Old English word denoting "traitor" was lǣwa or lǣwend. Doublet of traditor and treason.
adj
- Traitorous.e.g.“to find a subject staid and wise
Already half turn'd traitor by surprise” — 1735, Alexander Pope, “The Second Satire of Dr. John Donne”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume II, London: […] J. Wright, for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC:
noun
- Someone who violates an allegiance and betrays their country; someone guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers their country to an enemy, or yields up any fort or place entrusted to their defense, or surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when vanquished.e.g.“After World War I, the communists and Jews were accused to be traitors by the German right wing (the "stab-in-the-back myth"), ultimately culminating in their persecution and massacre.”
- Someone who takes arms and levies war against their country; or one who aids an enemy in conquering their country.
- One who betrays any confidence or trust.
verb
- To act the traitor toward; to betray; to deceive.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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