misdemeanant

[Arnold Zwicky]

came across this useful counterpart to "felon" a little while ago ("felon" : "felony" = "misdemeanant" :  "misdemeanor").  new to me, but far from new: as 'a person convicted of a misdemeanor or guilty of misconduct', it's in NOAD2; AHD5 has a similar entry, and OED3 (June 2002) has cites going back to 1819 (and marks the word as "now chiefly U.S."). OED3 also has an etymology tracing the noun back to a verb "misdemean" 'to misbehave, misconduct oneself' (with cites from the 16th century and the label "now rare").

arnold

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