pillage

pillage

English

WOTD – 16 August 2008

Etymology

From Old French pillage, from piller (“plunder”), from an unattested meaning of Late Latin piliō, probably a figurative use of Latin pilō (“I remove (hair)”), from pilus (“hair”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɪl.ɪd͡ʒ/, /ˈpɪl.əd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɪlɪd͡ʒ

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Verb

pillage (third-person singular simple present pillages, present participle pillaging, simple past and past participle pillaged)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To loot or plunder by force, especially in time of war.
   • 1911, Sabine Baring-Gould, Castles and Cave Dwellings of Europe, Chapter VI: Cliff Castles—Continued,

     Archibald V. (1361-1397) was Count of Perigord. He was nominally under the lilies [France], but he pillaged indiscriminately in his county.

Translations

loot or plunder by force

Bulgarian: ограбвам (bg) (ograbvam), плячкосвам (bg) (pljačkosvam) Catalan: saquejar (ca) Chinese: Mandarin: 掠奪／掠夺 (zh) (lüèduó) Czech: drancovat, plenit (cs) Danish: plyndre Dutch: plunderen (nl) Estonian: rüüstama Finnish: ryöstää (fi), hävittää (fi), rosvota (fi) French: piller (fr) German: plündern (de) Greek: λεηλατώ (el) (leïlató), κουρσεύω (el) (koursévo), διαγουμίζω (el) (diagoumízo) Ancient: συλάω (suláō) Hebrew: שדד‎ m (shadád) Icelandic: ræna (is), rupla Indonesian: menjarah (id) Irish: slad (ga) Italian: saccheggiare (it) Japanese: 略奪する (ja) (りゃくだつする, ryakudatsu suru) Korean: 약탈하다 (ko) (yaktalhada) Latin: praedor, expīlō, populor Latvian: sirot Maori: pāhuahua, pāhua, pāhue Norwegian: plyndre (no) Occitan: saquejar (oc) Old English: strūdan Polish: plądrować (pl) impf Portuguese: pilhar (pt), saquear (pt) Romanian: prăda (ro) Russian: гра́бить (ru) impf (grábitʹ) Spanish: saquear (es) Swedish: plundra (sv) Turkish: yağma (tr), talan (tr), çapulculuk Welsh: diffeithio

Noun

pillage (countable and uncountable, plural pillages)

1. The spoils of war.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene ii]:

     Which pillage they with merry march bring home.

2. The act of pillaging.
   • 2013, Zoë Marriage, Formal Peace and Informal War: Security and Development in Congo

     An employee at a brewery in Kinshasa rated the aftermath as more catastrophic to the company than the direct violence: It was more the consequences of the pillages that hit Bracongo – the poverty of the people, our friends who buy beer.

Synonyms

• (spoils of war): See Thesaurus:booty

Translations

the spoils of war

Bulgarian: плячка (bg) f (pljačka) Dutch: oorlogsbuiit Finnish: sotasaalis (fi) French: pillage (fr) m Galician: botín (gl) m, prea (gl) f Greek: λάφυρα (el) n pl (láfyra) Hebrew: שלל‎ (he) m (shalál) Irish: slad (ga) m Italian: bottino (it) Japanese: 略奪品 (りゃくだつひん, ryakudatsuhin) Korean: 전리품 (ko) (jeollipum) Latin: praedes m Maori: parakete Portuguese: saque (pt) m, butim (pt) m Russian: награ́бленное добро́ n (nagráblennoje dobró), трофе́и (ru) m pl (troféi), добы́ча (ru) f (dobýča) Walloon: piyaedje (wa) m, branscataedje (wa) m

the act of pillaging

Arabic: غَزَاوَة‎ f (ḡazāwa) Bulgarian: грабеж (bg) m (grabež), плячкосване (bg) n (pljačkosvane) Catalan: saqueig (ca) m, pillatge (ca) m Czech: plenění (cs) n, drancování n Dutch: plundering (nl) Estonian: rüüstamine Finnish: ryöstäminen (fi), ryöväys French: pillage (fr) m Galician: roubo (gl) m, saqueo m, pillaxe f German: Plünderung (de) f Greek: λεηλασία (el) f (leïlasía), πλιάτσικο (el) n (pliátsiko), κούρσεμα (el) n (koúrsema), διαγούμισμα (el) n (diagoúmisma) Hebrew: ביזה‎ (he) f (bizá) Irish: slad (ga) m, sladaíocht f, sladaireacht f Italian: saccheggio (it) m Japanese: 略奪 (ja) (りゃくだつ, ryakudatsu) Korean: 약탈 (ko) (yaktal) Latin: rapīna f Latvian: sirojums m Portuguese: saque (pt) m, pilhagem f Russian: грабёж (ru) m (grabjóž), разграбле́ние (ru) n (razgrablénije), разбо́й (ru) m (razbój) Spanish: saqueo (es) m, pillaje (es) m Swedish: plundring (sv) c Walloon: piyaedje (wa) m, branscataedje (wa) m

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French

Etymology

piller +‎ -age

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pi.jaʒ/

Noun

pillage m (plural pillages)

1. pillage

Further reading

• “pillage”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

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Norman

Etymology

From Old French pillage.

Noun

pillage m (plural pillages)

1. (Jersey) looting

Related terms

• pilleux (“looter”)

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Old French

Noun

pillage m (oblique plural pillages, nominative singular pillages, nominative plural pillage)

1. pillaging

Related terms

• piller

Descendants

• → English: pillage