pillage

English

WOTD – 16 August 2008

Etymology

From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪl.ɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈpɪl.əd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɪlɪd͡ʒ

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Verb

pillage (third-person singular simple present pillages, present participle pillaging, simple past and past participle pillaged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
   • 1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,

     Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.

Translations

loot or plunder by force

• Bulgarian: ограбвам (bg) (ograbvam), плячкосвам (bg) (pljačkosvam)
• Catalan: saquejar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 掠奪／掠夺 (zh) (lüèduó)

• Czech: drancovat, plenit (cs)
• Danish: plyndre
• Dutch: plunderen (nl)
• Estonian: rüüstama
• Finnish: ryöstää (fi), hävittää (fi), rosvota (fi)
• French: piller (fr)
• German: plündern (de)
• Greek: λεηλατώ (el) (leïlató), κουρσεύω (el) (koursévo), διαγουμίζω (el) (diagoumízo)

  Ancient: συλάω (suláō)

• Hebrew: שדד m (shadád)
• Icelandic: ræna (is), rupla
• Indonesian: menjarah (id)
• Irish: slad (ga)
• Italian: saccheggiare (it)
• Japanese: 略奪する (ja) (りゃくだつする, ryakudatsu suru)
• Korean: 약탈하다 (ko) (yaktalhada)
• Latin: praedor, expīlō, populor
• Latvian: sirot
• Maori: pāhuahua, pāhua, pāhue
• Norwegian: plyndre (no)
• Occitan: saquejar (oc)
• Old English: strūdan
• Polish: plądrować (pl) impf
• Portuguese: pilhar (pt), saquear (pt)
• Romanian: prăda (ro)
• Russian: гра́бить (ru) impf (grábitʹ)
• Spanish: saquear (es)
• Swedish: plundra (sv)
• Turkish: yağma (tr), talan (tr), çapulculuk
• Welsh: diffeithio

Noun

pillage (countable and uncountable, plural pillages)

1. The spoils of war.
   • 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Which pillage they with merry march bring home.

2. The act of pillaging.
   • 2013, Zoë Marriage, Formal Peace and Informal War: Security and Development in Congo:

     An employee at a brewery in Kinshasa rated the aftermath as more catastrophic to the company than the direct violence: It was more the consequences of the pillages that hit Bracongo – the poverty of the people, our friends who buy beer.

Synonyms

• (spoils of war): See Thesaurus:booty

Translations

the spoils of war

• Bulgarian: плячка (bg) f (pljačka)
• Dutch: oorlogsbuiit
• Finnish: sotasaalis (fi)
• French: pillage (fr) m
• Galician: botín (gl) m, prea (gl) f
• Greek: λάφυρα (el) n pl (láfyra)
• Hebrew: שלל (he) m (shalál)
• Irish: slad (ga) m
• Italian: bottino (it)
• Japanese: 略奪品 (りゃくだつひん, ryakudatsuhin)
• Korean: 전리품 (ko) (jeollipum)
• Latin: praedes m
• Maori: parakete
• Portuguese: saque (pt) m, butim (pt) m
• Russian: награ́бленное добро́ n (nagráblennoje dobró), трофе́и (ru) m pl (troféi), добы́ча (ru) f (dobýča)
• Walloon: piyaedje (wa) m, branscataedje (wa) m

the act of pillaging

• Arabic: غَزَاوَة f (ḡazāwa)
• Bulgarian: грабеж (bg) m (grabež), плячкосване (bg) n (pljačkosvane)
• Catalan: saqueig (ca) m, pillatge (ca) m
• Czech: plenění (cs) n, drancování n
• Dutch: plundering (nl)
• Estonian: rüüstamine
• Finnish: ryöstäminen (fi), ryöväys
• French: pillage (fr) m
• Galician: roubo (gl) m, saqueo m, pillaxe f
• German: Plünderung (de) f
• Greek: λεηλασία (el) f (leïlasía), πλιάτσικο (el) n (pliátsiko), κούρσεμα (el) n (koúrsema), διαγούμισμα (el) n (diagoúmisma)
• Hebrew: ביזה (he) f (bizá)
• Irish: slad (ga) m, sladaíocht f, sladaireacht f
• Italian: saccheggio (it) m
• Japanese: 略奪 (ja) (りゃくだつ, ryakudatsu)
• Korean: 약탈 (ko) (yaktal)
• Latin: rapīna f
• Latvian: sirojums m
• Ottoman Turkish: صویغون (soygun), تاراج (tarac)
• Portuguese: saque (pt) m, pilhagem (pt) f
• Russian: грабёж (ru) m (grabjóž), разграбле́ние (ru) n (razgrablénije), разбо́й (ru) m (razbój)
• Spanish: saqueo (es) m, pillaje (es) m
• Swedish: plundring (sv) c
• Walloon: piyaedje (wa) m, branscataedje (wa) m

French

Etymology

From piller +‎ -age.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.jaʒ/

Noun

pillage m (plural pillages)

1. pillage

Further reading

• “pillage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Norman

Etymology

From Old French pillage.

Noun

pillage m (plural pillages)

1. (Jersey) looting

Related terms

• pilleux (“looter”)

Old French

Noun

pillage oblique singular, m (oblique plural pillages, nominative singular pillages, nominative plural pillage)

1. pillaging

Related terms

• piller

Descendants

• → English: pillage