villain means A vile, wicked person.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, villain ranks #3,361 of 14,431 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #7,573 of 14,448 for Most Incisive Words, #10,594 of 14,423 for Most Sublime Words.
villain is pronounced /ˈvɪl.ən/.
Why “villain” is a great word
A character or person in a story or in life whose evil actions or motives are central to the plot or conflict. From Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), from Late Latin vīllānus ("farmhand, peasant, serf"), from Latin vīlla ("country house, farm"), the sense evolved from 'rustic' to 'low-born' to 'unscrupulous' and finally to 'wicked person'. Unlike a "cad," who is dishonorable in matters of social conduct, or an "antagonist," a neutral structural opponent, a villain is defined by essential, generative wickedness. It is the iron rasp of a gaoler’s key turning in the dungeon lock, the greasy scent of a whispered lie in a candlelit hall, the gloved hand drawing a curtain shut on someone else’s future—the ordinary transfigured into the sinister by deliberate malice, the necessary darkness against which we measure the fragile candle of our virtue.
Etymology
Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin vīllānus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin vīlla, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. Doublet of villein.
Compare typologically pagan (see more).
noun
- A vile, wicked person.“Oh moſt pernicious woman! / Oh Villaine, Villaine, ſmiling damned Villaine!”
- A vile, wicked person.; An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes.
- A vile, wicked person.; A deliberate scoundrel.
- A low-born, abject person.“Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:
I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſe
Haue to their names tytles of dignitie,
And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?”
- A character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.“Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.”
- Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero (“the current player”).“Let's discuss how to play if you are the chip leader (that is, if you have more chips than all the villains).”
verb
- To debase; to degrade .
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- villainy 91% match — Evil or wicked character or behaviour. vs villain →
- malevolence 86% match — Hostile attitude or feeling. vs villain →
- villein 86% match — A feudal tenant, a serf. vs villain →
- wicked 85% match — Evil or mischievous by nature; morally reprehensible. vs villain →
- malice 85% match — Intention to harm or deprive in an illegal or immoral way. Desire to take pleasure in another's misfortune. vs villain →
- miscreant 85% match — Lacking in conscience or moral principles; unscrupulous. vs villain →
- traitor 84% match — 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. vs villain →
- knave 84% match — A boy; especially, a boy servant. vs villain →