loot

English

Etymology

Attested 1788, a loan from Hindustani लूट /لوٹ lūṭ (spoil, booty), from Sanskrit लुण्ट luṇṭ "to rob, plunder". The verb is from 1842. Fallows (1885) records both the noun and the verb as "Recent. Anglo-Indian".

In origin only applicable to plundering in warfare. A figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uːt
• Homophones: lute

Noun

loot (uncountable)

1. plunder, booty, especially from a ransacked city.
2. (colloquial) (US) any prize or profit received for free, especially Christmas presents
   • 1956 "Free Loot for Children" (LIFE Magazine, 23 April 1956, p. 131)
3. (video games) Items dropped from defeated enemies in video games and online games.

Synonyms

• swag

Related terms

• contraband
• plunder

Translations

the proceeds of theft, robbery etc., swag, contraband

• Finnish: ryöstösaalis (fi)
• French: butin (fr) m
• German: Beute (de) f, Raubgut (de) n
• Hindi: लूट (hi) (lūṭ) f
• Hungarian: zsákmány (hu), hadizsákmány (hu)
• Italian: bottino (it)
• Marathi: लूट (mr) (lūṭa)

• Portuguese: roubo (pt) m, saque (pt) m
• Romanian: pradă (ro)
• Russian: добыча (ru) (dobýča) f, награбленное (ru) (nagráblennoje) n
• Spanish: botín (es) m
• Turkish: çalıntı mal (tr), ganimet (tr) (war)
• Urdu: لوٹ (ur) (lūṭ) f

money

• Finnish: raha (fi), fyrkka (fi) (slang)
• French: fric (fr) m, pognon (fr) m
• German: Knete (de) f (slang), Zaster (de) n (slang)

• Portuguese: moedas (pt) pl
• Turkish: mangır (tr) (slang)

Verb

loot (third-person singular simple present loots, present participle looting, simple past and past participle looted)

1. to steal, especially as part of war, riot or other group violence.
   • 1833 "Gunganarian, the leader of the Chooars, continues his system of looting and murder", The asiatic Journal and monthly register for British India and its Dependencies Black, Parbury & Allen, p. 66.
2. (video games) to examine the corpse of a fallen enemy for loot.

Translations

Translations

• Estonian: rüüstama (et)
• Finnish: ryöstää (fi)
• French: piller (fr)
• German: plündern (de)
• Hindi: लूटना (hi) (lūṭnā)
• Hungarian: fosztogat (hu), zsákmányol (hu)
• Italian: saccheggiare (it)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: plyndre (nb)

  Nynorsk: plyndre (nn)

• Polish: szabrować (pl)
• Portuguese: saquear (pt), pilhar (pt)
• Romanian: prăda (ro)
• Russian: грабить (ru) (grábit'), разграблять (ru) (razgrablját')
• Spanish: saquear (es)
• Telugu: దోచు (te) (dOchu)
• Urdu: لُوٹنا (ur) (lūṭnā)

Anagrams

• LOTO
• tool

References

• Samuel Fallows, The progressive dictionary of the English language: a supplementary wordbook to all leading dictionaries of the United States and Great Britain (1885).

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Dutch

Verb

loot

1. first-, second- and third-person singular present indicative of loten
2. imperative of loten

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *lōt, from Proto-Germanic *laudą.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /loːt/

Noun

loot n (stem lod-)

1. lead (metal)

Synonyms

• bli

Descendants

• Dutch: lood