ci·vil·ian

In general use, a civilian is "a person who is not a member of the police, the armed forces, or a fire department." This use distinguishes from persons whose duties involve risking their lives to protect the public at large from hazardous situations such as terrorism, riots, conflagrations, and wars.

Under international humanitarian law, civilians are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and are not "combatants if they (don't) carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, as some non-combatants are not civilians (for example, military chaplains attached to the belligerent [交战的] party or military personnel serving with a neutral country). Civilians in the territories of a party to an armed conflict are entitled to certain privileges under the customary laws of war and international treaties such as the Fourth Geneva Convention. The privileges that they enjoy under international law depends on whether the conflict is an internal one (a civil war) or an international one.

The word "civilian" goes back to the late 14th century and is from Old French civilien, "of the civil law". Civilian is believed to have been used to refer to non-combatants as early as 1829. The term "non-combatant" now refers to people in general who are not taking part of hostilities, rather than just civilians.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) 1958 Commentary on 1949 Geneva Convention IV Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states: "Every person in enemy hands must have some status under international law: he is either a prisoner of war and, as such, covered by the Third Convention, a civilian covered by the Fourth Convention, or again, a member of the medical personnel of the armed forces who is covered by the First Convention. There is no intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law. We feel that this is a satisfactory solution – not only satisfying to the mind, but also, and above all, satisfactory from the humanitarian point of view."

villain

1. A villain is someone who deliberately harms other people or breaks the law in order to get what he or she wants.
2. The villain in a novel, film, or play is the main bad character. ≠hero

六级/考研单词: civilian, hazard, situate, terror, riot, humane, militant, neutral, territory, privilege, treaty, convention, hostile, tertiary, intermediate, deliberate