theft

English

Etymology

From Middle English theft, thefte, þefte, þefþe, þiefþe, from Old English þīefþu, 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 (ar) f (sariqa), سَرَقَة‎ (ar) f (saraqa), سَرْق‎ (ar) m (sarq), سَرَق‎ (ar) m (saraq), سَرِق‎ (ar) m (sariq), نَهْب‎ m (nahb)
• Armenian: գողություն (hy) (gołutʿyun), հափշտակում (hy) (hapʿštakum), առեւանգում (aṙewangum)
• Azerbaijani: oğurluq (az), soyğun
• Belarusian: крадзе́ж m (kradzjéž), кра́жа f (kráža)
• Bengali: চুরি (curi)
• Bikol Central: ikit
• Bulgarian: кра́жба (bg) f (krážba)
• Catalan: furt (ca) 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
• Gothic: 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌱𐌹 n (þiubi)
• Greek: κλοπή (el) f (klopí)

  Ancient: κλοπή f (klopḗ)

• Hebrew: גזל‎ (he)
• 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), 窃盗 (ja) (せっとう, settō)
• Kazakh: ұрлық (urlıq)
• Korean: 도둑질 (ko) (dodukjil), 절도 (ko) (jeoldo), 훔침 (humchim)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: dizî (ku)

• Kyrgyz: уурулук (ky) (uuruluk)
• Ladino: ladronisyo m
• Latin: furtum n
• Latvian: zādzība f
• Lithuanian: vagystė (lt) f

• Macedonian: кражба f (kražba)
• Maori: whānako
• Marathi: चोरी f (corī)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хулгай (mn) (hulgaj)

  Uyghurjin: ᠬᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠢ (qulaɣai)

• Navajo: aniʼį́į́ʼ, aneestʼį́į́ʼ
• Norman: vol m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tyveri n, tjuveri n

  Nynorsk: tjuveri n

• Old English: þīefþu f
• Pashto: سرقت‎ m (šerqát), سرقه‎ f (serqá), غلا‎ (ps) f (ǧlā)
• 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
• Tajik: дуздӣ (duzdī)
• Tamil: திருட்டு (ta) (tiruṭṭu)
• Tatar: урлау (urlau)
• Telugu: దొంగతనము (te) (doṅgatanamu)
• Thai: โจรกรรม (joo-rá-gam), การลักทรัพย์ (gaan-lák-sáp)
• Turkish: soygun (tr), hırsızlık (tr), çalma (tr)
• Turkmen: ogurlyk
• Ukrainian: краді́жка (uk) f (kradížka), покра́жа f (pokráža), кра́діж (uk) m (krádiž)
• Urdu: چوری‎ f (corī)
• Uyghur: ئوغرىلىق‎ (oghriliq)
• 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 þīefþu, 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.