What's the opposite of a victim?

[Mark Spahn]

What is the opposite of a victim?
In Japanese, it's easy: A victim is a
被害者, a "harm-receiving person", a "harmee",
and the opposite of a 被害者 is a
加害者, a "harm-adding/exerting/imposing person".
In English, deciding upon a word for 加害者
is harder; you can't just take "victim" and modify it,
as you can go from 被害者 to 加害者
(well, actually, you can: victim --> victimizer).
Instead, you have to decide among a variety of
choices: assailant, inflicter, offender, perpetrator.
Today I heard a ranter say, "They portray
themselves as victims, but they're not victims,
they're predators."
Ah, there it is, another word for a victim's
opposite number: a "predator".
(And the opposite of "predator" is "prey",
which is a near-synonym for "victim".)
-- Mark Spahn (West Seneca, NY)

[timl...@aol.com]

Read the title, thought "beneficiary", and then opened message. Sigh.

Tim Leeney

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[Mark Spahn]

Read the title, thought "beneficiary", and then opened message. Sigh.
Tim Leeney

------

Yeah, your reaction is perfectly reasonable,
and reminds me that I used "opposite" in an
ambiguous way. Maybe a better way to put the
question would be as a fill-in-the-blank analogy like
"catcher" is to "pitcher" as "victim" is to _____.

[Adam Rice]

> What is the opposite of a victim?

Malefactor.

Adam Rice :: Austin TX USA :: adam...@8stars.org :: http://8stars.org

[Herman]

On 12/1/2012 10:01, Mark Spahn wrote:
> What is the opposite of a victim?
> In Japanese, it's easy: A victim is a

> 嚙瞋嚙窯嚙踝蕭, a "harm-receiving person", a "harmee",
> and the opposite of a 嚙瞋嚙窯嚙踝蕭 is a
> 嚙稼嚙窯嚙踝蕭, a "harm-adding/exerting/imposing person".

At least in some contexts, injured/injuring party, or damaged/damaging
party can be used analogously.

Herman Kahn

[Joe Jones]

Eijiro suggests "victimizer." Clever...

Joe Jones / Tokyo

[John Stroman]

On Sat, Dec 1, 2012 at 5:32 PM, Joe Jones <joej...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Eijiro suggests "victimizer." Clever...
>
> Joe Jones / Tokyo

Mark,

I also think "victimizer" is clever, but is immediately flagged by my
spellchecker. The issue here is that in English a person can be a
victim in many different ways and occasionally without an animate
agent (victim of circumstance, cancer victim). We also tend to
categorize the agent whose action caused harm to the victim, but the
term victim has a much broader scope. A person can even be a victim of
his own carelessness or poor judgment.

Therefore, the term to be used as the opposite of victim clearly
depends on the context. I think the term with the broadest scope as an
opposite is abuser (no word "abusee" as far as I know), but that does
not begin to cover the broader scope of victim.

FWIW, the following ad just appeared here in my gmail box.

Professors Hate Him
PhD Reveals Trick to Start Speaking Japanese in 10 Days. $10 w Free S&H
PimsleurApproach.com/Learn-Japanese

LOL.

John Stroman

[Fred Uleman]

"Perp" comes to mind. <g>

- -- --- ---- ----- ---- --- -- -
Fred Uleman

[BJ Beauchamp]

Antagonist, perpetrator, culprit, agressor, assailant, survivor...?



--
--
BJ Beauchamp
University at Buffalo
Bachelors of Arts, Applied Linguistics
---
I'm a soldier and that means
I am both defendant and judge
I stand at both ends of the fire

I'm a soldier つまり私は
被告人であり裁判官
火の両端に私は立つ
---

[Fred Uleman]

Note that this is often situation-specific. E.g., murderer, arsonist, and con man.

[jmarc...@comcast.net]

Fred noted:

Note that this is often situation-specific. E.g., murderer, arsonist, and con man.

It may depend further on how technical you need to be. The technical term for torts is "tortfeasor", a word that is not in the average person's vocabulary.

Another one that has been much in the media of late, but which no one has mentioned yet, is "predator", though that also relates to a specific kind of case, as Fred noted.

HTH,

John Marchioro

[timl...@aol.com]

John, I think the OP mentioned "predator".

FWIW
Tim Leeney

[Mark Spahn]

Another [English term for 加害者] that has been much

in the media of late, but which no one has mentioned yet,

is "predator" ...

HTH, John Marchioro

==UNQUOTE==

 

Actually, "predator" is what started this discussion in the first place.

I heard someone say, "They call themselves victims, but they're

actually predators."  That contrast -- victim/predator,

被害者 / 加害者 -- made me realize that "predator" is,

in some contexts, a good way to say 加害者.