culprit - meaning and definition. What is culprit
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What (who) is culprit - definition

CULPRIT

culprit         
n.
Criminal, malefactor, delinquent, felon.
culprit         
¦ noun a person who is responsible for a crime or other misdeed.
?the cause of a problem.
Origin
C17: orig. in the judicial formula Culprit, how will you be tried?, perh. from a misinterpretation of the written abbrev. cul. prist for Anglo-Norman Fr. Culpable: prest d'averrer notre bille '(You are) guilty: (We are) ready to prove our indictment'.
Culprit         
·p.p. One quilty of a fault; a criminal.
II. Culprit ·p.p. One accused of, or arraigned for, a crime, as before a judge.

Wikipedia

Culprit

A culprit, under English law properly the prisoner at the bar, is one accused of a crime. The term is used, generally, of one guilty of an offence. In origin the word is a combination of two Anglo-French legal words, culpable: guilty, and prit or prest: Old French: ready. On the prisoner at the bar pleading not guilty, the clerk of the crown answered culpable, and states that he was ready ("prest") to join issue. The words "cul. prist" were then entered on the roll, showing that issue had been joined. When French law terms were discontinued, the words were taken as forming one word addressed to the prisoner.

The formula "Culprit, how will you be tried?" in answer to a plea of "not guilty," is first found in the trial for murder of the 7th Earl of Pembroke in 1678.

Under current criminal law, the preferred term is defendant.

Examples of use of culprit
1. The direct culprit, they claimed, is Lupolianski.
2. The injuries suffered by Meredith suggest more than one culprit.
3. Health workers suspect contaminated water as the culprit.
4. The other culprit strongly recommended for firing is Dr.
5. It transpired that the culprit lived in Virginia.