GUILT

noun Etymology: Middle English, delinquency, ~, from Old English gylt delinquency Date: before 12th century the fact of having committed a breach of conduct especially violating law and involving a penalty, 2. the state of one who has committed an offense especially consciously, feelings of culpability especially for imagined offenses or from a sense of inadequacy ; self-reproach, a feeling of culpability for offenses