theft

English

Etymology

From Middle English theft, thefte, þefte, þefþe, þiefþe, Old English þīefþ, from Proto-West Germanic *þiubiþu, from Proto-Germanic *þiubiþō, from *þeubaz (“thief”), equivalent to thief +‎ -th or thieve +‎ -th. Cognate with Old Frisian thiuvethe, thiufthe (“theft”), dialectal Dutch diefte (“theft”), obsolete German Diebde (“theft”), Icelandic þýfð (“theft”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /θɛft/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛft

Noun

theft (countable and uncountable, plural thefts)

1. The act of stealing property.

   resource theft

   Bike theft is on the rise.

   A suspect was arrested for the theft of a gold necklace.

   • 2007 July 5, Charles Hugh Smith, When Lies Become Normal, Is Truth Dead or Just in Hiding?‎^[1]:

     If you steal a candy bar, you are guilty of theft, regardless of the value.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:theft

Derived terms

• grand theft
• grand theft auto
• identity theft
• joke theft
• petty theft
• retail theft
• theft by finding
• time theft
• wage theft

 

Related terms

• thief
• thieve

Translations

act of stealing property

• Abkhaz: аӡара (adzara)
• 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)

  Gulf Arabic: بوق m (bōg)

• Armenian: գողություն (hy) (goġutʻyun), հափշտակում (hy) (hapʻštakum), առեւանգում (hy) (aṙewangum)
• Azerbaijani: oğurluq (az), soyğun
• Belarusian: крадзе́ж m (kradzjéž), кра́жа f (kráža)
• Bengali: চুরি (bn) (curi)
• Bikol Central: ikit (bcl)
• Bulgarian: кра́жба (bg) f (krážba)
• Catalan: furt (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 盜竊／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
• Galician: roubo (gl) m
• Georgian: ქურდობა (kurdoba)
• German: Diebstahl (de) m
• Gothic: 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌱𐌹 n (þiubi)
• Greek: κλοπή (el) f (klopí)

  Ancient: κλοπή f (klopḗ)

• Hebrew: גְּנֵבָה f (gnevá), גָּזֵל (he) m (gazél)
• Higaonon: theft
• Hindi: चोरी (hi) f (corī)
• Hungarian: lopás (hu)
• Icelandic: þjófnaður (is) m
• Ido: furto (io)
• Ingrian: varkahus
• Irish: goid f
• Italian: furto (it) m
• Japanese: 盗み (ja) (ぬすみ, nusumi), 窃盗 (ja) (せっとう, settō), 盗難 (ja) (とうなん, tōnan) (passive)
• Kazakh: ұрлық (ūrlyq)
• Korean: 도둑질 (ko) (dodukjil), 절도(竊盜) (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)
• Malayalam: കളവ് (ml) (kaḷavŭ), മോഷണം (ml) (mōṣaṇaṁ)
• Maori: whānako
• Marathi: चोरी (mr) f (corī)
• Middle English: thefte
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: хулгай (mn) (xulgaj)

  Mongolian: ᠬᠤᠯᠠᠭᠠᠢ (qulaɣai)

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

  Bokmål: tyveri n, tjuveri n

  Nynorsk: tjuveri n

• Odia: ଚୋରି (or) (cori)
• Old English: þīefþu f
• Pashto: سرقت m (šerqat), سرقه f (serqa), غلا (ps) f (ǧlā)
• Persian: دُزدی (fa) (dozdi)
• Polish: kradzież (pl) f
• Portuguese: roubo (pt) m, furto (pt) m
• Romanian: furt (ro) n
• 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) c, tjuvande (sv), tjuveri (sv), tjuft
• Sylheti: ꠌꠥꠞꠤ (suri)
• Tagalog: pagnanakaw
• Tajik: дуздӣ (duzdi)
• Tamil: திருட்டு (ta) (tiruṭṭu), களவு (ta) (kaḷavu)
• Tatar: урлау (urlaw)
• Telugu: దొంగతనము (te) (doṅgatanamu)
• Thai: โจรกรรม (th) (joo-rá-gam), การลักทรัพย์ (gaan-lák-sáp)
• Tocharian B: klepe
• 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

Middle English

Noun

theft

1. Alternative form of thefte