villain

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a wicked or evil person; someone who does evil deliberately
  2. noun the principal bad character in a film or work of fiction

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).

In classic literature

Synonyms

scoundrel

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