As a noun, it means a person found guilty of a crime and usually sent to prison. As a verb, it means to decide in court that someone is guilty of a crime.
From Latin *convictus* 'proved, convicted', from *convincere* 'to prove, overcome', from *con-* 'completely' and *vincere* 'to conquer'. It moved through Old French into English legal language.
The stress again flips the meaning: CON-vict is the person, con-VICT is what the court does. The root is about 'proving completely,' as if the evidence has conquered all doubt. In history, whole colonies like early Australia were built using transported convicts.
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