n. 1. A wicked or evil person; a scoundrel. 2. A dramatic or fictional character who is typically at odds with the hero. 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. [Middle English vilein, feudal serf, person of coarse feelings, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *vīllānus, feudal serf, from Latin vīlla, country house; see weik-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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