Villain - Wiktionary

English

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Examples (fiction)
Darth Vader in Star Wars Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter Iago in Othello Count Dracula in Dracula Sauron in The Lord of the Rings / The Hobbit

Alternative forms

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• villan (archaic)

Etymology

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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.

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): /ˈvɪl.ən/
• (dialectal) IPA(key): /ˈvɪl.jən/[1]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlən
• Homophone: villein
• Hyphenation: vil‧lain

Noun

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villain (plural villains)

1. (Can we clean up(+) this sense?) A vile, wicked person.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v], page 258, column 1:Oh moſt pernicious woman! / Oh Villaine, Villaine, ſmiling damned Villaine!
   • c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 145, column 2:Thou ly’ſt thou ſhagge-ear’d Villaine.
   1. An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes.
   2. A deliberate scoundrel.
2. (archaic, derogatory) A low-born, abject person.
   • c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſeHaue to their names tytles of dignitie,And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?
3. (fiction) A character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent. Synonyms: antagonist; see also Thesaurus:villain
   • 1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition, London: Greening & Co., 1909, OCLC 11192831, quoted in The Case of Miss Elliott (ebook no. 2000141h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg of Australia, February 2020: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.
   • 2012 July 18, Scott Tobias, “The Dark Knight Rises”, in AV Club‎[1]:As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.
   • 2025 June 2, Adrian Horton, “Tech-bro satire Mountainhead is an insufferable disappointment”, in The Guardian‎[2], →ISSN:In some ways, it’s a relief to see tech bros, especially AI entrepreneurs, reach full, unambiguous movie-villain status.
4. (poker) 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).
5. Archaic form of villein (“feudal tenant, peasant, serf”).

Synonyms

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• knave
• rascal
• scamp
• cad
• See also Thesaurus:villain
• See also Thesaurus:troublemaker

Derived terms

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• anti-villain
• Bond villain
• chillin' like a villain
• James Bond villain
• pantomime villain
• supervillain
• villainess
• villainise, villainize
• villain of the week
• villainy

Related terms

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• villein

Descendants

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• → Japanese: ヴィラン (viran)
• → Korean: 빌런 (billeon)
• → Tamil: வில்லன் (villaṉ)

Translations

[edit] scoundrel

Afrikaans: skurk Akan: bɔnefoɔ Albanian: horr (sq) m Arabic: شِرِّير (ar) m (širrīr) Armenian: սրիկա (hy) (srika) Azerbaijani: cani (az), rəzil (az) Belarusian: ліхадзе́й m (lixadzjéj), злачы́нец m (zlačýnjec) Bulgarian: злоде́й (bg) m (zlodéj), подле́ц (bg) m (podléc), него́дник (bg) m (negódnik) Chinese: Dungan: хулюҗин (huli͡užin) Mandarin: 惡棍 / 恶棍 (zh) (ègùn), 坏家伙 (zh) (huàijiāhuo), 混混兒 / 混混儿 (zh) (hùnhùnr) (Northern Mandarin), 壞蛋 / 坏蛋 (zh) (huàidàn), 無籟 / 无籁 (wúlài), 渾蛋 / 浑蛋 (zh) (húndàn), 流氓 (zh) (liúmáng), 壞人 / 坏人 (zh) (huàirén) Czech: padouch (cs) m, darebák (cs) m, lump (cs) m, lotr (cs) m, zlosyn (cs) m, ničema (cs) m Danish: skurk c, slyngel c Dutch: schurk (nl) m, slechterik (nl) m Esperanto: abomenulo, kanajlo (eo) Estonian: kaabakas (et), lurjus (et) Finnish: roisto (fi), konna (fi), lurjus (fi), kelmi (fi), ilkimys (fi) French: scélérat (fr) m Galician: vilán m Georgian: ბოროტმოქმედი (boroṭmokmedi), არამზადა (aramzada) German: Schurke (de) m, Gauner (de) m, Halunke (de) m Greek: παλιάνθρωπος (el) m (paliánthropos), κάθαρμα (el) n (kátharma) Hebrew: נָבָל (he) m (navál) Hindi: खलनायक (hi) m (khalnāyak) Hungarian: gazember (hu) Ido: kriminanto (io), kriminero (io), kanalio (io) Indonesian: penjahat (id) Interlingua: scelerato Irish: bithiúnach m Italian: canaglia (it) f, furfante (it) m, mascalzone (it) m, farabutto (it) m, criminale (it), scellerato (it) m Japanese: 悪人 (ja) (あくにん, akunin), 悪党 (ja) (あくとう, akutō), 悪漢 (ja) (あっかん, akkan) Kannada: ಪೋಕ (kn) (pōka), ಹೋಕ (kn) (hōka), ಪೋಕರಿ (kn) (pōkari) Kazakh: жауыз (jauyz), дұшпан (dūşpan), залым (zalym), сұм (sūm) Korean: 악인(惡人) (ko) (agin), 악당(惡黨) (ko) (akdang), 악한(惡漢) (ko) (akhan) Kyrgyz: шум (ky) (şum), шумпай (ky) (şumpay) Lao: ຄົນຮ້າຍ (khonhai) Latin: scelestus (la) m, scelesta f Latvian: nelietis m Lithuanian: piktadarys m Macedonian: никаквец m (nikakvec), злобник m (zlobnik) Malay: penjahat Malayalam: വഞ്ചകൻ (ml) (vañcakaṉ), ചതിയൻ (ml) (catiyaṉ), കുറുക്കൻ (ml) (kuṟukkaṉ) Maori: whiro Middle English: sot Navajo: ájígaléidii Norwegian: Bokmål: skurk m Odia: ଭିଲେନ୍ (bhilen) Persian: شریر (fa) (šarir), شرور (fa) (šorur), رذل (fa) (razl), جنایتکار (fa) (jenâyatkâr), مجرم (fa) (mojrem) Polish: łotr (pl) m, łajdak (pl) m, złoczyńca (pl) m Portuguese: vilão (pt) m, salafrário (pt) m, patife (pt) m Romanian: mișel (ro) m, ticălos (ro) m Russian: злоде́й (ru) m (zlodéj), негодя́й (ru) m (negodjáj), мерза́вец (ru) m (merzávec), подле́ц (ru) m (podléc), лиходе́й (ru) m (lixodéj) (dated) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: зло̏бнӣк m Roman: zlȍbnīk (sh) m Slovak: zloduch m, lump (sk) m, lotor m, zlosyn m Slovene: hudobnež m, zlobnež m Spanish: villano (es) m Swahili: mhalifu (sw) Swedish: skurk (sv) c, bov (sv) c Tajik: ҷинояткор (jinoyatkor), шарир (tg) (šarir) Tamil: வில்லன் (ta) (villaṉ) Telugu: విలన్ (vilan) Thai: ผู้ร้าย (pûu-ráai), วายร้าย (waai-ráai) Tsonga: muxanisi Turkish: cani (tr), kötü adam (tr), hain (tr), zalim (tr) Ukrainian: лиході́й m (lyxodíj), злочи́нець m (zločýnecʹ) Uzbek: jinoyatchi (uz) Vietnamese: kẻ tàn ác Welsh: ragat m

bad person in a stage or screen play

Afrikaans: skurk Arabic: شِرِّير (ar) m (širrīr) Armenian: չարագործ (hy) (čʻaragorc) Belarusian: ліхадзе́й m (lixadzjéj) Bulgarian: злоде́й (bg) m (zlodéj) Catalan: vilà (ca) m Chinese: Dungan: хулюҗин (huli͡užin) Mandarin: 惡棍角色 / 恶棍角色 (ègùn juésè), 奸角 (jiānjiǎo), 反派 (zh) (fǎnpài) Czech: záporný hrdina m Danish: skurk c Dutch: slechterik (nl) m Finnish: konna (fi), roisto (fi), pahis (fi) (colloquial) French: méchant (fr) m Galician: vilán m Georgian: ბოროტმოქმედი (boroṭmokmedi) German: Bösewicht (de) m, (fam) Oberböse m, Schurke (de) m Greek: κακός (el) m (kakós) Hebrew: נָבָל (he) m (navál) Hindi: खलनायक (hi) m (khalnāyak) Hungarian: gonosz (hu), gonosztevő (hu) Irish: bithiúnach m Italian: il cattivo (it) m Japanese: 悪役 (ja) (あくやく, akuyaku) Kannada: ಪೋಕ (kn) (pōka), ಹೋಕ (kn) (hōka), ಪೋಕರಿ (kn) (pōkari) Kazakh: жауыз (jauyz) Korean: 악역(惡役) (ko) (agyeok), 악당(惡黨) (ko) (akdang) Latin: carnifex, scelerātus, persona negativa Macedonian: никаквец m (nikakvec), негати́вец m (negatívec), злобник m (zlobnik) Malay: penjahat Malayalam: വഞ്ചകൻ (ml) (vañcakaṉ), ചതിയൻ (ml) (catiyaṉ), കുറുക്കൻ (ml) (kuṟukkaṉ) Marathi: खलनायक m (khalnāyak) Navajo: ájígaléidii Persian: بدذات (fa) (bad-zât) Polish: czarny charakter (pl) m, złol (pl) m (colloquially), złoczyńca (pl) m Portuguese: vilão (pt) m Romanian: spirit rău n, viclean (ro) m, răufăcător (ro) m Russian: злоде́й (ru) m (zlodéj), отрица́тельный геро́й m (otricátelʹnyj gerój) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: негати́вац m Roman: negatívac (sh) m Slovene: negativec m Spanish: villano (es) m Swahili: mhalifu (sw) Swedish: skurk (sv) c, bov (sv) c Tamil: வில்லன் (ta) (villaṉ) Ukrainian: лиході́й m (lyxodíj) Vietnamese: nhân vật phản diện

a peasant free of serfdom

French: vilain (fr) m, paysan (fr) m Galician: vilán m Georgian: ვასალი (ka) (vasali) Italian: vassallo (it) m, servo feudale m Malayalam: വഞ്ചകൻ (ml) (vañcakaṉ) Persian: رعیت (fa) (ra'yat) Portuguese: vilão (pt) m Romanian: șerb (ro) m, iobag (ro) m, vecin (ro) m Russian: васса́л (ru) m (vassál)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations. Translations to be checked

Macedonian: (please verify) ни́каквец m (níkakvec), (please verify) негати́вец m (negatívec), (please verify) зло́бник m (zlóbnik) Neapolitan: (please verify) 'nfame (1,2,3) Norman: (please verify) lâreneux m (Jersey) Woiwurrung: (please verify) nullim

Verb

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villain (third-person singular simple present villains, present participle villaining, simple past and past participle villained)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To debase; to degrade [16th century].

References

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1. ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (2 March 1942), “2. The Vowel Sounds of Unstressed and Partially Stressed Syllables”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § II.2, page 65.

Further reading

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• villain on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

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• Villani, villian

Finnish

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Alternative forms

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• villojen

Noun

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villain

1. (dated) genitive plural of villa

Anagrams

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• villani

Old French

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Noun

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villain oblique singular, m (oblique plural villainz, nominative singular villainz, nominative plural villain)

1. alternative form of vilain