burglar

English

Etymology

Borrowed 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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈbɜːɡlə(ɹ)/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝɡlɚ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)ɡlə(ɹ)

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.

   • 2010, Louis De Bernières, Notwithstanding, →ISBN, page 82:

     In the village itself his lionheartedness had been a legend ever since he had brained a burglar with a number seven iron, and the jury in Guildford had, despite the clear direction of the judge, resolutely declined to convict him for the use of unnecessary force.

   • 2017 June 23, Max Byrd, “A Trip to Southern Italy to Shed Light on a Family Scandal”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 2017-06-25:

     There’s good reason to worry. In an earlier memoir, “Five-Finger Discount,” Stapinski recreated the terrifying world of swindlers, embezzlers, burglars and mobster wannabes who made up her extended Jersey City family.

   • 2025 February 1, Noah Goldberg, “He runs a desert micro-nation by the Salton Sea. Population Zero.”, in Los Angeles Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 2025-02-01:

     Corona, who carries a pistol filled not with bullets but with tequila and drives around in his pickup truck that says “Porder Batrol” on the side, says he was playing pickleball at the time, which allowed the burglar free rein to the territory.

Synonyms

• burglarizer (rare)
• housebreaker

Derived terms

• antiburglar
• burglar alarm
• burglar bar
• burglaree
• burglarious
• burglarize, burglarise
• burglarous
• burglarously
• burglarproof
• burglary
• burgle
• cat burglar
• cat-burglar
• gin burglar
• time burglar
• turd burglar

Translations

Translations

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

  Mandarin: 竊盜 / 窃盗 (zh) (qièdào), 竊賊 / 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
• Galician: ladrón m, ladroa f, garduño m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Einbrecher (de) m, Einbrecherin (de) f
• Greek: διαρρήκτης (el) m (diarríktis), διαρρήκτρια (el) f (diarríktria)

  Ancient: τοιχωρύχος m (toikhōrúkhos)

• Hebrew: פּוֹרֵץ m (poréts), פּוֹרֶצֶת f (porétset)
• Hindi: लुटेरा (hi) m (luṭerā)
• 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: ចោរ (km) (cao)
• Korean: 강도 (ko) (gangdo)
• Latin: effractor m, 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
• Macedonian: провалник m (provalnik)
• Malay: perompak
• Middle English: breker
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

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

  Nynorsk: innbrotstjuv m, innbrottstjuv m

• Ottoman Turkish: اوغری (oğrı), خرسز (hırsız)
• Persian: دزد (fa) (dozd)
• 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)
• Spanish: ladrón (es) m
• Swedish: inbrottstjuv (sv) c
• Thai: โจร (th) (joon), ขโมย (th) (kà-mooi)
• Turkish: hırsız (tr)
• Tuvan: оор (oor)
• Ukrainian: зло́мщик m (zlómščyk)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
• Volapük: (♂♀) nübreikan, (♂) hinübreikan, (♀) jinübreikan
• Welsh: torrwr tai m; (loosely) lleidr (cy)

Verb

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

1. (ambitransitive) To commit burglary.
   • 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