Todays Word

villein

PRONUNCIATION:

(VIL-uhn) 

MEANING:

noun: A peasant legally bound to a feudal lord, owing labor or dues in return for the use of land.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Old French vilein (peasant), from Latin villanus (farm worker), from villa (country estate, farm). Earliest documented use: before 1325.

NOTES:

The villein worked a plot. The villain plotted. How did a farm worker become a villain? They were originally forms of the same word. The upper classes associated peasants with crude manners, and associated them with bad character. Over time, a word for a country dweller became a word for a scoundrel. By the end of this linguistic journey, the country bumpkin had become Dr. No.

USAGE:

“The landowners prosper across the cycles while the serfs and villeins do the work.”
Donald Coxe; George W., Villain; Maclean’s (Toronto, Canada); Apr 8, 2002.

See more usage examples of villein in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.