villain
n. countablen. a bad person in a story, movie, or play who works against the hero. You can also use it to describe a real person who does something harmful or cruel.
n. a character in a fictional narrative whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. In a non-fictional context, it refers to a person held responsible for a specific harm or negative outcome.
The villain in the movie has a very scary laugh.
While the hero receives all the praise, the story would be nothing without a complex villain to challenge them.
History often casts the losing side as the villain, though modern biographers frequently attempt to provide a more nuanced perspective on their motivations and circumstances.
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.