theft

English

Etymology

From Middle English theft, thefte, þefte, þefþe, þiefþe, from Old English þīfþ, þȳfþ, þēoft, earlier þīefþ, þēofþ (“act of thieving; theft”), from Proto-Germanic *þiubiþō, from *þeubaz (“thief”), equivalent to thief +‎ -th or thieve +‎ -th. Cognate with Old Frisian thiuvethe, thiufthe (“theft”), Old Norse þýfð, þýft, and (obsolete) Dutch diefte.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /θɛft/
• Rhymes: -ɛft

Noun

theft (countable and uncountable, plural thefts)

1. The act of stealing property.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:theft

Derived terms

• petty theft

Related terms

• thief
• thieve

Translations

act of stealing property

• Abkhaz: аӡара (āʒārā)
• Afrikaans: diefstal (af)
• Albanian: vjedhje (sq) f
• Arabic: سَرِقَة‎ f (sariqa)
• Armenian: գողություն (hy) (gołutʿyun), հափշտակում (hy) (hapʿštakum), առեւանգում (aṙewangum)
• Azerbaijani: oğurluq (az), soyğun
• Belarusian: крадзе́ж m (kradzjéž), кра́жа f (kráža)
• Bengali: চুরি (curi)
• Bulgarian: кра́жба (bg) f (krážba)
• Catalan: furt m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盜竊 (zh), 盗窃 (zh) (dàoqiè)

• Czech: krádež (cs) f
• Danish: tyveri (da) n
• Dutch: diefstal (nl) f, dieverij (nl) f
• Esperanto: ŝtelado
• Estonian: vargus
• Faroese: stuldur m, rán n
• Finnish: varkaus (fi)
• French: vol (fr) m
• Georgian: ქურდობა (kurdoba)
• German: Diebstahl (de) m
• Greek: κλοπή (el) f (klopí)

  Ancient: κλοπή f (klopḗ)

• Hebrew: גזל‎
• Hindi: चोरी (hi) f (corī)
• Hungarian: lopás (hu)
• Icelandic: þjófnaður (is) m
• Ido: furto (io)
• Interlingue: furte
• Irish: goid f
• Italian: furto (it) m
• Japanese: 盗み (ぬすみ, nusumi)
• Kazakh: ұрлық (urlıq)
• Korean: 도둑질 (ko) (dodukjil), 절도 (ko) (jeoldo)
• Latin: furtum n
• Latvian: zādzība f

• Lithuanian: vagystė (lt) f
• Macedonian: кражба f (krážba)
• Maori: whānako
• Marathi: चोरी f (corī)
• Mongolian: хулгай (mn) (hulgaj)
• Navajo: aniʼį́į́ʼ, aneestʼį́į́ʼ
• Norman: vol m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tyveri n, tjuveri n

  Nynorsk: tjuveri n

• Persian: دزدی‎ (fa) (dozdi)
• Polish: kradzież (pl) f
• Portuguese: roubo (pt) m, furto (pt) m
• Romanian: furt (ro) m
• Russian: кра́жа (ru) f (kráža), воровство́ (ru) n (vorovstvó), хище́ние (ru) n (xiščénije), уго́н (ru) m (ugón) (esp. of a vehicle)
• Scottish Gaelic: meirle m, gadachd f, goid f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: кра̏ђа f

  Roman: krȁđa (sh) f

• Slovak: krádež (sk) f, lúpež f
• Slovene: kraja (sl) f
• Spanish: robo (es) m, hurto (es) m
• Swahili: wizi (sw)
• Swedish: stöld (sv)
• Tagalog: pagnanakaw
• Tamil: திருட்டு (ta) (tiruṭṭu)
• Telugu: దొంగతనము (te) (doṅgatanamu)
• Thai: โจรกรรม (joo-rá-gam)
• Turkish: soygun (tr), hırsızlık (tr), çalma (tr)
• Ukrainian: краді́жка (uk) f (kradížka), покра́жа f (pokráža), кра́діж (uk) m (krádiž)
• Urdu: چوری‎ f (corī)
• Uzbek: oʻgʻrilik (uz)
• Vietnamese: sự trộm cắp (vi), sự ăn trộm (vi)
• Volapük: tif (vo)
• Warlpiri: puru
• Welsh: lladrad (cy) m

See also

• nick
• steal
• TWOC

Further reading

• theft on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• thefte, þyefþe, þiefþe, þifte, þeofþe, þeuft, þeefte, thifthe, theffte, þeft

Etymology

From Old English þīefþ, from Proto-Germanic *þiubiþō; equivalent to thef +‎ -th.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /θeːft/, /θɛft/, /θeːfθ/, /θɛfθ/
• (mainly southern ME) IPA^(key): /θiːft/, /θift/

Noun

theft

1. Theft, stealing, robbery (in general or as an individual instance)
2. Financial fraud; the acquiring of financial goods maliciously.
3. Some act viewed negatively compared or equated to theft.
4. Stolen or illegally acquired goods or possessions.
5. (rare) An alleged instance of robbery.

Descendants

• English: theft
• Scots: thift, theft

References

• “thẹ̄̆ft(e (n.)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-21.