villein n.
early 14c., vileyn, spelling variant of villain in its reference to a feudal of half-free peasants. It tends to keep the literal, historical sense of the word and let the pejorative meanings go with villain; Century Dictionary writes that "
Entries linking to villein
c. 1300 (late 12c. as a surname), "
The most important phases of the sense development of this word may be summed up as follows: 'inhabitant of a farm; peasant; churl, boor; clown; miser; knave, scoundrel.' Today both Fr. vilain and Eng. villain are used only in a pejorative sense. [Klein]
updated on March 15, 2014