treason

English

Etymology

From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traïson (“treason”), from trair, or from Latin trāditiō (“a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition”), from trādō (“give up, hand over, deliver over, betray”, verb), from trāns- (“over, across”) +‎ dō (“give”). Doublet of tradition.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɹiː.zən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːzən

Noun

treason (countable and uncountable, plural treasons)

1. The crime of betraying one’s own country.
   • c. 1605, John Harington, “42: Of Treason”, in Epigrams (British Library Additional MS. 12049)‎^[1], Book III, folio 75, verso; republished at London: British Library Digitised Manuscripts, 2020 September 17:

     Treaſon doth never [pro]ſper: what's the reaſon? / For yf yt [pro]ſper none dare call yt treaſon

   • 1787 September 17, Alexander Hamilton et al., “Article III, Section 3”, in Constitution of the United States‎^[2], Philadelphia: Jacob Shallus:

     Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unleſs on the Testimony of two Witneſses to the same overt Act, or on Confeſsion in open Court.

   • 1964 November, Richard J. Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”, in Robert Shnayerson, editor, Harper's Magazine, New York City: Minneapolis Star and Tribune Company:

     If for every error and every act of incompetence one can substitute an act of treason, many points of fascinating interpretation are open to the paranoid imagination: treason in high places can be found at almost every turning.

2. An act of treachery, betrayal of trust or confidence.

Synonyms

• betrayal
• perfidiousness
• perfidy
• treacherousness
• treachery

Derived terms

• constructive treason
• high treason
• petit treason/petty treason
• treasonable
• treasonableness
• treasonably
• treasonist
• treasonistic
• treasonistically
• treasonous
• treasonously
• treasonousness

 

Related terms

• traitor
• traitorlike
• traitorly
• traitorous
• traitorously
• traitorousness

 

Translations

crime of betraying one’s country

• Albanian: tradhti (sq) f
• Arabic: خِيَانَة (ar) f (ḵiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (hy) (davačanutʻyun), մատնություն (hy) (matnutʻyun)
• Azerbaijani: xəyanət (az)
• Belarusian: здра́да f (zdráda)
• Bengali: রাজদ্রোহ (bn) (rajdrōh), খেয়ানত (bn) (kheẏanot)
• Bulgarian: измя́на (bg) f (izmjána), преда́телство (bg) n (predátelstvo), изда́йство n (izdájstvo), изда́йничество (bg) n (izdájničestvo)
• Burmese: အတွင်းရန် (my) (a.twang:ran)
• Catalan: traïció (ca) f
• Cebuano: pagluib, pagbudhi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背叛 (zh) (bèipàn), 叛國罪／叛国罪 (zh) (pànguózuì), 叛國／叛国 (zh) (pànguó), 出賣／出卖 (zh) (chūmài)

• Czech: velezrada (cs) f, vlastizrada f, zrada f
• Danish: forræderi n, landsforræderi n
• Dutch: verraad (nl) n, hoogverraad (nl) n, landverraad (nl) n
• Esperanto: perfido
• Estonian: reetmine
• Finnish: valtiopetos (fi), maanpetos (fi), petos (fi), pettäminen (fi)
• French: trahison (fr) f
• Galician: traizón f
• Georgian: ღალატი (ɣalaṭi)
• German: Verrat (de) m, Landesverrat (de) m
• Greek: προδοσία (el) f (prodosía)

  Ancient: προδοσία f (prodosía)

• Hebrew: בְּגִידָה \ בגידה (he) f (bgidá)
• Hindi: विश्वासघात (hi) m (viśvāsghāt), राज-द्रोह m (rāj-droh), ख़ियानत f (xiyānat), खियानत (hi) f (khiyānat)
• Hungarian: árulás (hu), hitszegés (hu)
• Icelandic: landráð (is) n pl, svik (is) n pl, föðurlandssvik (is) n pl
• Ido: trahizo (io)
• Indonesian: pengkhianatan (id), makar (id)
• Irish: tréas m
• Italian: tradimento (it) m
• Japanese: 反逆 (ja) (はんぎゃく, hangyaku), 裏切り (ja) (うらぎり, ​uragiri), 反逆罪 (はんぎゃくざい, hangyakuzai)
• Kazakh: сатқындық (satqyndyq), опасыздық (opasyzdyq)
• Khmer: ការក្បត់ (kaa kbɑt)
• Korean: 배신(背信) (ko) (baesin), 배반(背反) (ko) (baeban), 반역죄(叛逆罪) (ko) (banyeokjoe)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: îxanet (ku), xiyanet (ku) f

• Kyrgyz: чыккынчылык (ky) (cıkkıncılık)
• Lao: ການຂາຽຊາດ (kān khāi sāt)
• Latin: prōditiō f
• Latvian: nodevība f
• Lithuanian: išdavystė (lt) f
• Macedonian: предавство n (predavstvo)
• Malay: pengkhianatan
• Malayalam: രാജ്യദ്രോഹം (rājyadrōhaṁ)
• Maltese: tradiment m
• Maori: kaikaiwaiūtanga, kaikaiwaiū
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: урвалт (mn) (urvalt)

• Norman: trahison f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: landssvik n, forræderi n, landsforræderi n, høyforræderi n

  Nynorsk: landssvik n, forræderi n, landsforræderi n

• Pashto: خيانت (ps) m (xyānat)
• Persian:

  Dari: خِیَانَت (fa) (xiyānat)

  Iranian Persian: خِیانَت (fa) (xiyânat), غَدَّاری (fa) (ğaddâri)

• Polish: zdrada (pl) f
• Portuguese: traição (pt) f
• Romanian: trădare (ro)
• Russian: госуда́рственная изме́на (ru) f (gosudárstvennaja izména), госизме́на (ru) f (gosizména), преда́тельство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo), изме́на (ru) f (izména)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: и̏здаја f, ѝзда̄јство n

  Roman: ȉzdaja (sh) f, ìzdājstvo n

• Slovak: zrada f, vlastizrada f
• Slovene: izdaja (sl) f, izdajstvo n
• Spanish: traición (es) f, traición a la patria f
• Swedish: förräderi (sv) n, landsförräderi (sv) n
• Tajik: хиёнат (tg) (xiyonat), хоинӣ (tg) (xoyini), ғаддори (ġaddor-i)
• Tamil: துரோகம் (ta) (turōkam)
• Tatar: хыянәт (tt) (xıyanät)
• Telugu: ద్రోహం (te) (drōhaṁ)
• Thai: การกบฏ (th) (gaan-gà-bòt), การขายชาติ (th) (gaan-kǎai-châat)
• Turkish: ihanet (tr), hainlik (tr)
• Turkmen: haýynlyk, dönüklik
• Ukrainian: зра́да f (zráda), держа́вна зра́да f (deržávna zráda), держзра́да (uk) f (deržzráda)
• Urdu: غَدّاری f (ġaddārī), خِیانَت f (xiyānat)
• Uyghur: ساتقۇنلۇق (satqunluq)
• Uzbek: xiyonat (uz), xoinlik (uz), sotqinlik (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự phản bội (vi) (sự (vi) + 反背)
• Volapük: trät (vo)
• Welsh: brad (cy) m, bradwriaeth f

providing aid and comfort to the enemy

• Arabic: خِيَانَة (ar) f (ḵiyāna)
• Armenian: դավաճանություն (hy) (davačanutʻyun), մատնություն (hy) (matnutʻyun)
• Bulgarian: измя́на (bg) f (izmjána), преда́телство (bg) n (predátelstvo)
• Catalan: col·laboracionisme m, quintacolumnisme m
• Cebuano: pagbudhi
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 背叛 (zh) (bèipàn), 叛國罪／叛国罪 (zh) (pànguózuì), 叛國／叛国 (zh) (pànguó)

• Czech: kolaborace (cs) f
• Danish: kollaboration c
• Dutch: verraad (nl) n
• Finnish: maanpetos (fi)
• Galician: traizón f
• Greek: προδοσία (el) f (prodosía)

  Ancient: προδοσία f (prodosía)

• Italian: collaborazionismo (it) m, connivenza (it) f
• Japanese: 裏切り (ja) (うらぎり, uragiri)
• Korean: 배신(背信) (ko) (baesin)
• Macedonian: предавство n (predavstvo)
• Malayalam: ഒറ്റ് (ml) (oṟṟŭ)
• Polish: kolaboracja (pl) f
• Portuguese: colaboração (pt) f
• Russian: изме́на (ru) f (izména), преда́тельство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo)
• Spanish: colaboración con el enemigo f, colaboracionismo m
• Swedish: förräderi (sv) n

act of treachery

• Bulgarian: измя́на (bg) f (izmjána), преда́телство (bg) n (predátelstvo)
• Catalan: traïció (ca) f
• French: trahison (fr) f
• Galician: traizón f
• Russian: изме́на (ru) f (izména), преда́тельство (ru) n (predátelʹstvo)
• Spanish: traición (es) f
• Welsh: bradychiad m, brad (cy) m

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ღალატი (ɣalaṭi)
• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} దేశద్రోహం (dēśadrōhaṁ)

See also

• sedition

References

• “treason”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “treason”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “treason”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Santore, Senator, anteros, asteron, atoners, nor'-east, nose art, noseart, one-star, orantes, ornates, roneats, rotanes, santero, seatron, senator, tenoras

Middle English

Noun

treason

1. Alternative form of tresoun