A Villain Was Originally a Farm Worker
A villain is a wicked person or the antagonist of a story. The word began as a term for a peasant, and the insult was added by the people above.
A villain is a wicked person, or the character opposing the hero. The word's history is a piece of social snobbery preserved in amber: Latin *villanus* meant a farm labourer attached to a *villa*, a country estate. The people who wrote things down decided that peasant meant base, and the meaning followed.
- A wicked person. *The villain of the piece.*
- The antagonist of a story. *A pantomime villain.*
- A criminal (British informal). *Known villains.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | villain | A convincing villain. |
| Plural | villains | Comic-book villains. |
| Adjective | villainous | A villainous grin. |
| Noun | villainy | Acts of villainy. |
| Related | villein | A medieval villein. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Every story needs a villain.Narrative.
- He was cast as the villain of the piece.Blamed for the outcome.
- A villein was legally bound to the land.The medieval spelling kept for the historical sense.
Words that fell in status
- Villain — from farm worker to criminal
- Boor — from peasant to rude person
- Churl — from ordinary man to churlish
- Vulgar — from common to coarse
- Peasant — used as an insult in exactly the same way
From Anglo-French *vilein*, from Latin *villanus*, a farmhand, from *villa*. English kept the spelling *villein* for the historical legal status and *villain* for the moral one.
Villain or villein?
Villein is the medieval tenant bound to the land. Villain is the wrongdoer. They are the same word with the senses separated by spelling.
Why did so many words for common people become insults?
Because the people doing the writing were rarely the people being described. The pattern shows up across European languages.