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vil·lain (vĭĺən)

[Middle English vilein, feudal serf, person of coarse feelings, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin* vīllānus, feudal serf, from Latin vīlla, country house.]

noun 

  1. A wicked or evil person; a scoundrel.
  2. A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero.
  3. Variant of villein
  4. Something said to be the cause of particular trouble or an evil: poverty, the villain in the increase of crime.
  5. Obsolete A peasant regarded as vile and brutish.
vil·lein,
also vil·lain (vĭĺən, -āń, vĭ-lāń)

[Middle English vilein; see villain.]

noun 

One of a class of feudal serfs who held the legal status of freemen in their dealings with all people except their lord.