villain
Syllables: vil·lain/ˈvɪl.ən/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
dialectal/ˈvɪl.jən/
villain noun: a vile, wicked person. Also the archaic form of villein.
Noun
villain (plural villains)
- A vile, wicked person.
- Oh moſt pernicious woman! / Oh Villaine, Villaine, ſmiling damned Villaine!c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
- Thou ly’ſt thou ſhagge-ear’d Villaine.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
- A low-born, abject person.
- Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:
I tel thee villaine, thoſe that lead my horſe
Haue to their names tytles of dignitie,
And dar’ſt thou bluntly cal me Baiazeth?c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...
- Note the preſumption of this Scythian ſlaue:
- 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.1904–1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, published 1905, →OCLC; republished as popular edition...
- 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....2012 July 18, Scott Tobias, “The Dark Knight Rises”, in AV Club, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2012
- Synonyms:
- antagonist
- 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).
Verb
villain (third-person singular simple present villains, present participle villaining, simple past and past participle villained)
Also used as
villain is also the archaic form of villein.
villain meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
villain in Hindi
- bad person in a stage or screen play
- खलनायक khalnāyak
- scoundrel
- खलनायक khalnāyak
villain in Tamil
- bad person in a stage or screen play
- வில்லன் villaṉ
- scoundrel
- வில்லன் villaṉ
villain in Marathi
- bad person in a stage or screen play
- खलनायक khalnāyak
villain in Urdu
- ولن
More languagesFewer languages
- villain in Bengali
- খলনায়ক, ভিলেন, খলনায়ককে
- villain in Telugu
- విలన్ vilan
- villain in Malayalam
- വഞ്ചകൻ vañcakaṉ, ചതിയൻ catiyaṉ, കുറുക്കൻ kuṟukkaṉ
- villain in Kannada
- ಪೋಕ pōka, ಹೋಕ hōka, ಪೋಕರಿ pōkari
- villain in Punjabi
- ਖਲਨਾਇਕ, ਵਿਲਨ
- villain in Gujarati
- ખલનાયક, વિલન, ખલનાયકને
- villain in Odia
- ଭିଲେନ୍ bhilen
- villain in Nepali
- खलनायक, विलन, खलनायका
- villain in Arabic
- شِرِّير širrīr
- villain in Malay
- penjahat
- villain in Indonesian
- penjahat
- villain in Persian
- بدذات bad-zât, شریر šarir, شرور šorur, رذل razl
- villain in Thai
- ผู้ร้าย pûu-ráai, วายร้าย waai-ráai
- villain in Vietnamese
- nhân vật phản diện, kẻ tàn ác
Examples of villain in a sentence
- The villain kidnapping the love interest is a bit of a cliché.
- "You'll rue the day you tried to cross me, Tom Hero!" bellowed the villain.
- I wrote a 30-page analysis of the show’s villain because I’m very normal about them.
Synonyms of villain
24 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Antonyms
Forms of villain
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | villains |
| alternative form (archaic) | villan |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | villains |
| present participle | villaining |
| past participle | villained |
| past | villained |
Origin of villain
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. Compare typologically pagan (see more).
Words formed from villain
- anti-villain
- archvillain
- Bond villain
- chillin' like a villain
- James Bond villain
- nonvillain
- outvillain
- pantomime villain
- subvillain
- supervillain
- ultravillain
- villaindom
- villainess
- villainhood
- villainise
- villainize
- villainism
- villainization
- villainly
- villain of the week
- villainry
- villainsplain
- villainy
Words that rhyme with villain
Questions about villain
- What does villain mean?
- Villain means a vile, wicked person.
- What is villain in Hindi?
- Villain in Hindi is खलनायक (khalnāyak). See Villain meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is villain?
- Villain can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce villain?
- Villain is pronounced /ˈvɪl.ən/.
- What is the plural of villain?
- The plural of villain is villains.
Words near villain in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: villain (page history and authors); villain (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); villain (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); villain (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); villain (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); villain (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-villain.ogg.
Cite this entry: “villain.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/villain. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.