# If a Person Who Commits a Felony is Called a Felon...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 17, 2000, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585 "2000-11-17T13:32:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/1 "2000-11-17T13:32:53Z")
…then what is a person who commits a misdemeanor? A misdmeany?
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/2 "2000-11-17T13:33:48Z")
Dunno, but isn’t “jeopardy” defined as “the act committed by a jeopard” ?
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/3 "2000-11-17T13:40:23Z")
a misdemeanant.
(I may be off on spelling, the last sylable is prounced like the insect).
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### Author:  [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/4 "2000-11-17T13:47:53Z")
a perpetrator 😃
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### Author:  [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/5 "2000-11-17T14:11:12Z")
Oh, all right, somebody has to say it:
“Sex is a misdemeanor. De more I miss, de meaner I get.”
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### Author:  [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/6 "2000-11-17T14:17:12Z")
Thank you, **wring**. Now I can finish that job application…
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/7 "2000-11-17T14:25:40Z")
yr. welcome. Never know on these threads when people are actually looking for a straight answer (and yes, I know there’s lots of jokes that are to be made with that)
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/8 "2000-11-17T14:50:49Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by wring \*
> \*\*a misdemeanant.
>
> (I may be off on spelling). \*\*
The spelling is correct. There is also a verb **misdemean**.
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### Author:  [@scratch1300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch1300)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/9 "2000-11-17T17:03:02Z")
Hijacking, but a nifty bit of etymology…_Felon_ is derived from the Latin _fellare_, mening “to suck”, and yes, used in an obscene sense.
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### Author:  [@FloChi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloChi)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/10 "2000-11-17T17:20:01Z")
What about miscreant?
I personally have never heard of misdemean or misdemeanant, maybe they are american english?
What would misdemean mean anyway - I wanted to demean you but failed to do it properly? Let me try again now. 🙂
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/11 "2000-11-17T17:25:52Z")
my dictionary lists a “miscreant” as a villian or evil doer. There is no word listed for misdemean.
Misdemeanor is crime, classification of something less than a felony.
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### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/12 "2000-11-17T17:28:43Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by wring \*
> \*\*my dictionary lists a “miscreant” as a villian or evil doer. There is no word listed for misdemean.
> \*\*
My dictionary is bigger than yours! Nanny, nanny, nanny! Sorry. I couldn’t help myself.
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### Author:  [@FloChi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FloChi)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/13 "2000-11-17T17:42:19Z")
Yes a miscreant is an evil doer, but I have only ever seen it used (or used it myself) for something that is not serious - less than a felony.
And so what does misdemean actually mean? Although I can guess what it means, what is the actual meaning? (living in a place without any english dictionaries - translation dictionaries yes, but no english-english ones)
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/14 "2000-11-17T17:49:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by bibliophage \*
> \*\*
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > \*Originally posted by wring \*
> > \*\*my dictionary lists a “miscreant” as a villian or evil doer. There is no word listed for misdemean.
> > \*\*
>
> My dictionary is bigger than yours! Nanny, nanny, nanny! Sorry. I couldn’t help myself. \*\*
“quality, not quantity” nyeh.( 😃 )
**Flo** don’t believe that misdemean IS a word.
yea, I think common usage for miscreant is more of a “childish prank” nature than true evil, but that goes along with the misdeamenor is less than a felony concept as well.
My (admittedly smaller than bibliophage’s) dictionary lists:
miscreant (already discussed), misdemeanant (already discussed), misdemeanor (already discussed), misdemeanour (variant spelling of misdemeanor), but no word “misdemean”.
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### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/15 "2000-11-17T23:22:26Z")
Black’s Law Dictionary (6th ed. 1990)
> [@](#):
>
> **Misdemenant** A person guilty of a misdemeanor; one sentenced to punishment upon conviction of a misdemeanor.
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### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/16 "2000-11-17T23:23:32Z")
Spelling error:
That should be “ **Misdemeanant** ”
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/17 "2000-11-17T23:32:17Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*From **wring** Flo don’t believe that misdemean IS a word.
I say that **Flo** SHOULD believe it is a word.
**misdemean** \Mis`de\*mean", v. t. To behave ill; – with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one’s self.
[sub]Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.[/sub]
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### Author:  [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/18 "2000-11-17T23:35:24Z")
> [@](#):
>
> _Previously posted by wring:_
> **Flo don’t believe that misdemean IS a word.**
**misdemean** : \Mis`de\*mean", v. t. To behave ill; – with a reflexive pronoun; as, to misdemean one’s self.
[sub]Source: Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.[/sub]
…How’s that?
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### Author:  [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/19 "2000-11-17T23:36:01Z")
I sit corrected [sub] **damn those itty bitty dictionaries anyhow…** [/sub]
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [November 18, 2000, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-person-who-commits-a-felony-is-called-a-felon/41585/20 "2000-11-18T01:00:46Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by rastahomie \*
> \*\*…then what is a person who commits a misdemeanor? A misdmeany? \*\*
------------A snotty little punk. 😛
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