# villain

Pronunciation: say "VIL-uhn" /ˈvɪl.ən/

## Noun

1. A character whose role in a story is to be bad, especially by opposing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.
   - Simple: The bad character in a story or movie who works against the hero.
   - _In the final scene, the detective at last confronts the villain on the rooftop._
   - _The actor has played so many villains that strangers sometimes boo him in the street._
2. A wicked person who deliberately does wrong or harms others, sometimes one who has committed, or is capable of, serious crimes.
   - Simple: A bad person who does wrong or hurts others on purpose, sometimes by committing terrible crimes.
   - _The landlord turned out to be a calculating villain who kept every tenant's deposit._
   - _He was no fool who blundered into fraud but a villain who planned every lie in advance._

## Noun

3. Archaic form of villein: a medieval peasant legally bound to a lord's estate and owing him labor. *(archaic)* — Archaic form of villein (“feudal tenant, peasant, serf”).
   - Simple: Archaic form of villein: in the Middle Ages, a farm worker tied to a lord's land.
4. A low-born, contemptible person. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A person of low birth, treated as worthless.

## Other meanings

- (noun) In poker, any opposing player, especially a hypothetical one used in examples and teaching, as distinct from the hero, the player being discussed.
- (verb) To debase or degrade.

## Origin

Villain probably comes from Middle English vilein, which came from Old French vilein (vilain in modern French). The earlier source is Late Latin vīllānus, a word for a serf or peasant tied to an estate’s land. These large country estates, called vīllae (singular vīlla) in Latin, existed in Italy or Gaul during late Antiquity. Villain and villein are doublets.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/villain (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).