villain

Etymology

Probably from Middle English vilein, from Old French vilein (modern French vilain), in turn from Late Latin villanus, meaning serf or peasant, someone who is bound to the soil of a Latin villa, which is to say, worked on the equivalent of a plantation in late Antiquity, in Italy or Gaul. Doublet of villein.

noun

1. A vile, wicked person.
   1. An extremely depraved person, or one capable or guilty of great crimes.
   2. A deliberate scoundrel.
2. (archaic, derogatory) A low-born, abject person.
3. In fiction, a character who has the role of being bad, especially antagonizing the hero; an antagonist who is also evil or malevolent.
   Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels. 1905, Baroness Emmuska Orczy, chapter 2, in The Affair at the Novelty Theatre
   July 18 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Dark Knight Riseshttp://www.avclub.com/articles/the-dark-knight-rises-review-batman,82624/ As The Dark Knight Rises brings a close to Christopher Nolan’s staggeringly ambitious Batman trilogy, it’s worth remembering that director chose The Scarecrow as his first villain—not necessarily the most popular among the comic’s gallery of rogues, but the one who set the tone for entire series.
4. (poker) Any opponent player, especially a hypothetical player for example and didactic purposes. Compare: hero (“the current player”).
   Let's discuss how to play if you are the chip leader (that is, if you have more chips than all the villains).
5. Archaic form of villein (“feudal tenant, peasant, serf”).

verb

1. (obsolete, transitive) To debase; to degrade.