pickpocket

See also: pick-pocket

English

Alternative forms

pick-pocket

Etymology

Etymology tree

English pick

English pocket

English pickpocket

From pick + pocket.

Pronunciation

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɪkpɒkɪt/
Audio (Southern England): (file)

Noun

pickpocket (plural pickpockets)

One who steals from the pocket of a passerby, usually by sleight of hand.
Coordinate term: putpocket
- 1874, Marcus Clarke, For the Term of his Natural Life, Penguin, published 2009, page 52:
  Old men, young men, and boys, stalwart burglars and highway robbers, slept side by side with wizened pickpockets or cunning-featured area-sneaks.
- 1970, Saul Bellow, chapter 1, in Mr. Sammler’s Planet‎^[1], Greenwich, CT: Fawcett, published 1971, page 8:
  For several days, Mr. Sammler returning on the customary bus late afternoons from the Forty-second Street Library had been watching a pickpocket at work […] Mr. Sammler if he had not been a tall straphanger would not with his one good eye have seen these things happening.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:pickpocket

Derived terms

Translations

one who steals from the pocket of a passerby

Albanian: xhepist m
Arabic: نَشَّال m (naššāl)
Egyptian Arabic: نشال m (naššāl)
Armenian: գրպանահատ (hy) (grpanahat)
Azerbaijani: cibgir, cibəgirən
Bulgarian: джебчия m (džebčija)
Burmese: please add this translation if you can
Catalan: carterista (ca), escurabutxaques (ca) m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 扒手 (zh) (páshǒu), 三隻手 / 三只手 (zh) (sānzhīshǒu)
Czech: kapsář (cs) m
Danish: lommetyv (da) c
Dutch: zakkenroller (nl), gauwdief (nl) m
Esperanto: poŝoŝtelisto
Estonian: taskuvaras
Finnish: taskuvaras (fi)
French: pickpocket (fr) m, voleur à la tire (fr) m
Galician: carteirista f
Georgian: ჯიბგირი (ǯibgiri)
German: Taschendieb (de) m, Taschendiebin (de) f
Greek: πορτοφολάς (el) m (portofolás)
Hebrew: כייס (he) m (kayás)
Hindi: गाँठकट (hi) m (gā̃ṭhkaṭ)
Hungarian: zsebtolvaj (hu), zsebmetsző (hu)
Icelandic: vasaþjófur m
Indonesian: pencopet (id), copet (id)
Irish: peasghadaí m, piocaire póca m
Italian: borseggiatore (it) m, borsaiolo (it) m
Japanese: 掏摸 (ja) (すり, suri)
Javanese: copèt
Khmer: ចោរលុកហោប៉ោ (cao-luk-hao-pao)
Korean: 소매치기 (ko) (somaechigi)
Ladino: yankesidji
Lao: ຄົນລ່ວງກະເປົາ (khon lūang ka pao)
Latin: manticulātor m, sacculārius m
Macedonian: џе́пчија m (džépčija)
Malay: penyeluk saku
Māori: ringa kamakama
Mongolian: халаасны хулгайч (xalaasny xulgajč)
Norman: filou m (Jersey)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: lommetyv m, lommetjuv m

Nynorsk: lommetjuv m
Polish: kieszonkowiec (pl) m
Portuguese: punguista (pt) m or f (Brazil), batedor de carteira (pt) m (Brazil), carteirista (pt) m or f (Portugal)
Romani: please add this translation if you can
Romanian: hoț de buzunare m, pungaș (ro) m
Russian: карма́нный вор (ru) m (karmánnyj vor), карма́нник (ru) m (karmánnik), (slang) щипа́ч (ru) m (ščipáč)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: џепарош m

Latin: džeparoš (sh) m
Slovene: žepar (sl) m, žeparka f
Spanish: carterista (es) m or f, bolsista (es) m or f (Mexico), punguista (es) m or f (South America), chorizo (es) m (Spain, colloquial), punga (es) m or f (Southern Cone)
Swahili: mchopozi
Swedish: ficktjuv (sv) c
Tagalog: mandurukot
Telugu: జేబుదొంగ (jēbudoṅga), కత్తెరదొంగ (te) (katteradoṅga)
Thai: นักแซ้ง (nák-sáeng), มือกาว (meu-gaao), นักล้วงกระเป๋า (th) (nák-lúuang-grà-bpǎo)
Turkish: (slang) dızcı, kapkaççı (tr), yankesici (tr)
Ukrainian: кишенько́вий зло́дій m (kyšenʹkóvyj zlódij)
Vietnamese: kẻ móc túi
Yoruba: jáwójáwó

Verb

pickpocket (third-person singular simple present pickpockets, present participle pickpocketing, simple past and past participle pickpocketed)

(transitive) To pick pockets; to steal.
- 2014 November 22, Miles Brignall, “Victory against Vodafone for schoolteacher billed £15,000”, in The Guardian‎^[2]:
  Vodafone has also dropped its claim against one of Rhys Edwards’s travelling companions – who had been at the same reunion and had his phone pickpocketed two hours later in almost identical circumstances to Rhys Edwards.