felon

Etymology 1

From Middle English felun, feloun, from Anglo-Norman felun (“traitor, wretch”), from Medieval Latin fellō, from Frankish *fellō (“wicked person”), from Proto-Germanic *fillô, *filjô (“flayer, whipper, scoundrel”), from Proto-Germanic *faluz (“cruel, evil”) (compare English fell (“fierce”), Middle High German vālant (“imp”)), related to *fellaną (compare Dutch villen, German fillen (“to whip, beat”), both from Proto-Indo-European *pelh₂- (“to stir, move, swing”) (compare Old Irish ad·ella (“to seek”), di·ella (“to yield”), Umbrian pelsatu (“to overcome, conquer”), Latin pellō (“to drive, beat”), Latvian lijuôs, plītiês (“to force, impose”), Ancient Greek πέλας (pélas, “near”), πίλναμαι (pílnamai, “I approach”), Old Armenian հալածեմ (halacem, “I pursue”).

noun

1. A person who has committed a felony.
   Looking at the Jury and the turbulent audience, he might have thought that the usual order of things was reversed, and that the felons were trying the honest men. 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, James Nisbet & Company, published 1902, Book 3, Chapter 6, page 340
2. (law) A person who has been tried and convicted of a felony.
3. A wicked person.

adj

1. wicked; cruel

Etymology 2

Probably from Latin fel (“gall, poison”).

noun

1. (medicine) A bacterial infection at the end of a finger or toe.