burglar

English

Etymology

Middle English, shortened from burgulator, from British Medieval Latin burglātor, from Old French burgeor (“burglar”), from Medieval Latin burgātor (“burglar”), from burgō (“to commit burglary”), from Late Latin burgus (“fortified town”), probably from Frankish *burg (“fortress”), from Proto-Germanic *burgz, *burgiją (“borough, watch-tower”). The -l- may have been inserted under influence from Latin latro (“thief”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜːɡlə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝɡlɚ/, [ˈbɚɡlɚ]

Noun

burglar (plural burglars)

1. A person who breaks in to premises with the intent of committing theft

   The burglar made off with a large diamond from the museum.

Related terms

• burglar alarm
• burglarize, burglarise
• burglary
• burglarous

• burglarously
• burgle
• cat burglar
• housebreaker

Translations

Translations

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: узло́мшчык m (uzlómščyk)
• Bulgarian: крадец с взлом (kradec s vzlom)
• Catalan: lladre (ca) m or f, espanyaportes m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 竊盜 (zh), 窃盗 (zh) (qièdào), 竊賊 (zh), 窃贼 (zh) (qièzéi)

• Czech: lupič (cs) m
• Dutch: inbreker (nl) m, inbreekster (nl) f
• Esperanto: domŝtelisto
• Finnish: murtovaras (fi)
• French: cambrioleur (fr) m, cambrioleuse (fr) f
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Einbrecher (de) m, Einbrecherin (de) f, Dieb (de) m, Diebin (de), Räuber (de) m, Räuberin (de) f
• Greek: διαρρήκτης (el) m (diarríktis), διαρρήκτρια (el) f (diarríktria)

  Ancient: τοιχώρυχος m (toikhṓrukhos)

• Hebrew: פּוֹרֵץ‎ m (poréts), פּוֹרֶצֶת‎ f (porétset)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: betörő (hu)
• Icelandic: innbrotsþjófur (is) m
• Ido: ruptofurtisto, ruptofurtero, domofurtisto (io)
• Indonesian: maling (id), pencuri (id)
• Irish: buirgléir m
• Italian: scassinatore m, scassinatrice f
• Japanese: 強盗 (ja) (ごうとう, gōtō), 夜盗 (ja) (やとう, yatō)

• Javanese: maling (jv)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 강도 (ko) (gangdo)
• Latin: perfossor m
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Low German: Inbreker m, Inbrekerin f, Inbrekersch f, Inbrekersche f, Inbräker m, Inbräkerin f, Inbräkersch f, Inbräkersche f
• Luxembourgish: Abriecher m
• Malay: perompak
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: innbruddstyv m, innbruddstjuv m, innbrottstjuv m, innbrottstyv m

  Nynorsk: innbrotstjuv m, innbrottstjuv m

• Polish: włamywacz (pl) m, włamywaczka f
• Portuguese: ladrão (pt) m
• Romanian: spărgător (ro) m
• Russian: взло́мщик (ru) m (vzlómščik), взло́мщица f (vzlómščica), дому́шник (ru) m (domúšnik), дому́шница (ru) f (domúšnica)
• Swedish: inbrottstjuv (sv) c
• Thai: โจร (th) (joon), ขโมย (th) (kà-mooi)
• Turkish: please add this translation if you can
• Tuvan: оор (oor)
• Ukrainian: зло́мщик m (zlómščyk)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: (♂♀) nübreikan, (♂) hinübreikan, (♀) jinübreikan
• Welsh: torrwr tŷ m; (loosely) lleidr (cy)

Verb

burglar (third-person singular simple present burglars, present participle burglaring, simple past and past participle burglared)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To commit burglary; to burgle.
   • 1901, Emma Orczy, The Robbery in Phillimore Terrace

     The latter, with another constable, remained to watch the burglared premises both back and front, […]

See also

• robber
• thief