villain
n.-
1 fictional character (n.) B1 Intermediate Theatrethe 'bad guy' in a book, film, or play who works against the hero.
a character in a fictional narrative whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot.
ExampleThe villain in the movie was much more interesting than the hero.
ExampleModern screenwriters often attempt to humanise the villain by providing a complex backstory that explains their descent into criminality.
- antagonist
- bad guy
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2 wicked person (n.) B2 Upper Intermediatea person who does very bad or cruel things in real life.
a person who is guilty or capable of great wickedness or a crime.
ExampleThe newspapers described the thief as a heartless villain.
ExampleHistory has often cast him as a villain, though recent biographies suggest his motives were more political than purely malicious.
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3 feudal peasant (n.) C2 Proficiency Archaica poor person who worked on a lord's land in the Middle Ages.
a feudal tenant entirely subject to a lord or manor to whom they paid dues and services.
ExampleThe villain worked the fields from dawn until dusk for his master.
ExampleThe legal status of the medieval villain was complex, as they were technically free in relation to everyone except their own lord.
UsageOften spelled 'villein' in modern historical texts to distinguish it from the sense of a wicked person who is evil.
- serf
- peasant
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.