Treason is betraying your own country. High treason, charged with treason, an act of treason.
It is the only crime defined in the American constitution, and narrowly, because the framers had seen it used against political opponents. In Britain it remained a capital offence until 1998. Note that the word comes from the Latin traditio, a handing over — the same word as tradition.
1nountreasonBetraying your own country.
“He was found guilty of treason for selling secrets to the enemy.”
treason is a crime.
Old French traison comes from Latin traditio, a handing over, from tradere. Tradition and traitor come from the same handing over.
Proto-Indo-European
*deh₃-
Latin
trāditiō — a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition
Old French
traison — treason
Anglo-Norman
treson
Middle English
tresoun
English, today
treason
Built from
From Middle English tresoun, treison, from Anglo-Norman treson, from Old French traison (“treason”), from trair, or from Latin trāditiō (“a giving up, handing over, surrender, delivery, tradition”), from trādō (“give up, hand over, deliver over, betray”), from trāns + dō. a doublet of tradition and traitor; also related to betray.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA