Meanings
plural treasons
- countableuncountableThe crime of betraying one’s own country.
Treaſon doth never [pro]ſper: what's the reaſon? / For yf yt [pro]ſper none dare call yt treaſon
c. 1605, John Harington, “42: Of Treason”, in Epigrams (British Library Additional MS. 12049), Book III, folio 75, verso; republished at London: British Library Digitised Manuscripts, 17 September 20203 more examples
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.
1787 September 17, Alexander Hamilton et al., “Article III, Section 3”, in Constitution of the United States, Philadelphia: Jacob ShallusIf 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.
1964 November 28, Richard J. Hofstadter, “The Paranoid Style in American Politics”, in Robert Shnayerson, editor, Harper's Magazine, New York City: Minneapolis Star and Tribune CompanyM. Vonel: 'Your involvement with a group calling themselves THE ORDER OF THE EZIC STAR has been uncovered. […] At least one EZIC member has confessed to receiving your help. This represents treason of the highest order. Goodbye inspector.'
2013, Lucas Pope, Papers, Please, scene: Ending 14Synonyms: perfidiousness, perfidy, treacherousness, treachery
- countableuncountableAn act of treachery, betrayal of trust or confidence.
Synonyms: betrayal, perfidiousness, perfidy, treachery, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe crime of betraying one’s own country.
nounAn act of treachery, betrayal of trust or confidence.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna crime that undermines the offender's government
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latintrāditiō“a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition”
- Old Frenchtraïson“treason”
- Anglo-Normantreson
- Middle Englishtresoun
- Englishtreason
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 and traitor; also related to betray.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Ancient Greek προδοσία, προδοσία
- προδοσία (prodosía)crime of betraying one’s country
- προδοσία (prodosía)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
Arabic خِيَانَة, خِيَانَة
- خِيَانَة (ḵiyāna)crime of betraying one’s country
- خِيَانَة (ḵiyāna)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
Bengali রাজদ্রোহ, খেয়ানত
- রাজদ্রোহ (rajdrōh)crime of betraying one’s country
- খেয়ানত (kheẏanot)crime of betraying one’s country
Bulgarian измя́на, преда́телство
- измя́на (izmjána)crime of betraying one’s country
- преда́телство (predátelstvo)crime of betraying one’s country
- изда́йство (izdájstvo)crime of betraying one’s country
- изда́йничество (izdájničestvo)crime of betraying one’s country
- измя́на (izmjána)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- преда́телство (predátelstvo)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- измя́на (izmjána)act of treachery
- преда́телство (predátelstvo)act of treachery
Catalan traïció, col·laboracionisme
- traïciócrime of betraying one’s country
- col·laboracionismeproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
- quintacolumnismeproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
- traïcióact of treachery
Chinese Mandarin 背叛, 叛國罪 /叛国罪
- 背叛 (bèipàn)crime of betraying one’s country
- 叛國罪 /叛国罪 (pànguózuì)crime of betraying one’s country
- 叛國 /叛国 (pànguó)crime of betraying one’s country
- 出賣 /出卖 (chūmài)crime of betraying one’s country
- 背叛 (bèipàn)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- 叛國罪 /叛国罪 (pànguózuì)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- 叛國 /叛国 (pànguó)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
Czech velezrada, vlastizrada
- velezradacrime of betraying one’s country
- vlastizradacrime of betraying one’s country
- zradacrime of betraying one’s country
- kolaboraceproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Danish forræderi, landsforræderi
- forrædericrime of betraying one’s country
- landsforrædericrime of betraying one’s country
- kollaborationproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Dutch verraad, hoogverraad
- verraadcrime of betraying one’s country
- hoogverraadcrime of betraying one’s country
- landverraadcrime of betraying one’s country
- verraadproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Esperanto perfido
- perfidocrime of betraying one’s country
Estonian reetmine
- reetminecrime of betraying one’s country
Finnish valtiopetos, maanpetos
- valtiopetoscrime of betraying one’s country
- maanpetoscrime of betraying one’s country
- petoscrime of betraying one’s country
- pettäminencrime of betraying one’s country
- maanpetosproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
French trahison, trahison
- trahisoncrime of betraying one’s country
- trahisonact of treachery
German Verrat, Landesverrat
- Verratcrime of betraying one’s country
- Landesverratcrime of betraying one’s country
Greek προδοσία, προδοσία
- προδοσία (prodosía)crime of betraying one’s country
- προδοσία (prodosía)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
Hebrew בְּגִידָה \ בגידה
- בְּגִידָה \ בגידה (bgidá)crime of betraying one’s country
Hindi विश्वासघात, राजद्रोह
- विश्वासघात (viśvāsghāt)crime of betraying one’s country
- राजद्रोह (rājadroh)crime of betraying one’s country
- देशद्रोह (deśadroh)crime of betraying one’s country
- राष्ट्रद्रोह (rāṣṭradroh)crime of betraying one’s country
- देशद्रोह (deśadroh)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- राष्ट्रद्रोह (rāṣṭradroh)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- द्रोह (droh)act of treachery
- धोखा (dhokhā)act of treachery
Hungarian árulás, hitszegés
- áruláscrime of betraying one’s country
- hitszegéscrime of betraying one’s country
Icelandic landráð, svik
- landráðcrime of betraying one’s country
- svikcrime of betraying one’s country
- föðurlandssvikcrime of betraying one’s country
Indonesian pengkhianatan, makar
- pengkhianatancrime of betraying one’s country
- makarcrime of betraying one’s country
Irish tréas
- tréascrime of betraying one’s country
Italian tradimento, collaborazionismo
- tradimentocrime of betraying one’s country
- collaborazionismoproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
- connivenzaproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Japanese 反逆, 裏切り
- 反逆 (hangyaku)crime of betraying one’s country
- 裏切り (uragiri)crime of betraying one’s country
- 反逆罪 (hangyakuzai)crime of betraying one’s country
- 裏切り (uragiri)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
Korean 배신, 배반
- 배신 (baesin)crime of betraying one’s country
- 배반 (baeban)crime of betraying one’s country
- 반역죄 (banyeokjoe)crime of betraying one’s country
- 배신 (baesin)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
Latin prōditiō
- prōditiōcrime of betraying one’s country
Latvian nodevība
- nodevībacrime of betraying one’s country
Lithuanian išdavystė
- išdavystėcrime of betraying one’s country
Malay pengkhianatan
- pengkhianatancrime of betraying one’s country
Māori kaikaiwaiūtanga, kaikaiwaiū
- kaikaiwaiūtangacrime of betraying one’s country
- kaikaiwaiūcrime of betraying one’s country
Norwegian Bokmål landssvik, forræderi
- landssvikcrime of betraying one’s country
- forrædericrime of betraying one’s country
- landsforrædericrime of betraying one’s country
- høyforrædericrime of betraying one’s country
Polish zdrada, kolaboracja
- zdradacrime of betraying one’s country
- kolaboracjaproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Portuguese traição, crime de lesa-pátria
- traiçãocrime of betraying one’s country
- crime de lesa-pátriacrime of betraying one’s country
- lesa-pátriacrime of betraying one’s country
- colaboraçãoproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Romanian trădare
- trădarecrime of betraying one’s country
Russian госуда́рственная изме́на, госизме́на
- госуда́рственная изме́на (gosudárstvennaja izména)crime of betraying one’s country
- госизме́на (gosizména)crime of betraying one’s country
- преда́тельство (predátelʹstvo)crime of betraying one’s country
- изме́на (izména)crime of betraying one’s country
- изме́на (izména)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- преда́тельство (predátelʹstvo)providing aid and comfort to the enemy
- изме́на (izména)act of treachery
- преда́тельство (predátelʹstvo)act of treachery
Slovak zrada, vlastizrada
- zradacrime of betraying one’s country
- vlastizradacrime of betraying one’s country
Spanish traición, traición a la patria
- traicióncrime of betraying one’s country
- traición a la patriacrime of betraying one’s country
- colaboración con el enemigoproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
- colaboracionismoproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
- traiciónact of treachery
Swedish förräderi, landsförräderi
- förrädericrime of betraying one’s country
- landsförrädericrime of betraying one’s country
- förräderiproviding aid and comfort to the enemy
Tamil துரோகம்
- துரோகம் (turōkam)crime of betraying one’s country
Thai การกบฏ, การขายชาติ
- การกบฏ (gaan-gà-bòt)crime of betraying one’s country
- การขายชาติ (gaan-kǎai-châat)crime of betraying one’s country
Turkish ihanet, hainlik
- ihanetcrime of betraying one’s country
- hainlikcrime of betraying one’s country
Ukrainian зра́да, держа́вна зра́да
- зра́да (zráda)crime of betraying one’s country
- держа́вна зра́да (deržávna zráda)crime of betraying one’s country
- держзра́да (deržzráda)crime of betraying one’s country
Urdu غَدّاری, خِیانَت
- غَدّاری (ġaddārī)crime of betraying one’s country
- خِیانَت (xiyānat)crime of betraying one’s country
Welsh brad, bradwriaeth
- bradcrime of betraying one’s country
- bradwriaethcrime of betraying one’s country
- bradychiadact of treachery
- bradact of treachery
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with treason
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
treason. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/treason
“treason.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/treason. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “treason,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/treason.
Source: treason on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.