robber

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English robbour, robbere, either directly taken from or from a calque of Old French robeor. Equivalent to rob +‎ -er.

Compare reaver ("robber, plunderer"), a native English word derived from Proto-Germanic *raubārijaz that is ultimately of more or less the same composition as robber. And compare rover ("a pirate"), another word of the same composition.

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒ.bə(ɹ)/
- Audio (Southern England) (file)
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑbɚ/
Rhymes: -ɒbə(ɹ)

Noun

robber (plural robbers)

A person who robs.
An animal who robs.
- 1907, Frederick William D'Evelyn, “Slaughter of Blue Jays”, in The Condor, volume 9, number 2:
  I remember as a boy in my native land the bad name the common magpie (Pica caudata) had as a destroyer of chickens, and a robber of nests.

Hypernyms

thief

Hyponyms

graverobber
bank robber
mugger

Derived terms

camp robber
cradle robber
dog robber
robber baron
robber crab
robber fly
robber gull
robber steak

Related terms

rob
robbery

Translations

one who robs

Albanian: grabitës (sq) m, vjedhës (sq) m
Arabic: سَارِق‎ (ar) m (sāriq), سَارِقَة‎ f (sāriqa), لِصّ‎ m (liṣṣ), لِصَّة‎ f (liṣṣa)
Armenian: ավազակ (hy) (avazak)
Azerbaijani: soyğunçu (az)
Belarusian: разбо́йнік m (razbójnik), разбо́йніца f (razbójnica)
Bengali: ডাকাত (ḍakat)
Bikol Central:
Bikol Legazpi: mahabas
Bikol Naga: parahabon (bcl)
Bulgarian: разбо́йник (bg) m (razbójnik), разбо́йничка f (razbójnička), разбо́йница f (razbójnica)
Burmese: ပြင်းဟုပ် (my) (prang:hup), ဓားပြ (my) (dha:pra.)
Catalan: lladre (ca) m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 強盜／强盗 (zh) (qiángdào), 盜賊／盗贼 (zh) (dàozéi)
Czech: zloděj (cs) m, zlodějka (cs) f, lupič (cs) m, lupička f
Danish: røver c
Dutch: rover (nl) m
Egyptian:

(ꜥwꜣy)
Esperanto: rabisto
Estonian: röövel
Finnish: ryöstäjä (fi), ryöväri (fi)
French: brigand (fr) m, bandit (fr) m
Friulian: ladron m
Galician: ladrón m, ladroa f, ladra f
Georgian: ყაჩაღი (q̇ačaɣi), მძარცველი (mʒarcveli)
German: Räuber (de) m, Räuberin (de) f
Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐍅𐌰 m (wilwa)
Greek: ληστής (el) m (listís)
Ancient: λῃστής m (lēistḗs), κιξάλλης m (kixállēs)
Hebrew: שׁוֹדֵד‎ (he) m (shodéd)
Hindi: डाकू (hi) m (ḍākū)
Hungarian: rabló (hu)
Icelandic: ræningi (is) m
Indonesian: perampok (id), begal (id)
Irish: ropaire m, robálaí m, gadaí (ga) m
Italian: rapinatore (it) m, ladro (it) m, ladrone m
Japanese: 盗賊 (ja) (とうぞく, tōzoku), 強盗 (ja) (ごうとう, gōtō)
Kazakh: аламан (alaman), баукеспе (baukespe), жортуылшы (jortuylşy), қарақшы (qaraqşy), тонаушы (tonauşy)
Khmer: ចោរ (km) (cao), លុម្បក (km) (lumbɑk)
Korean: 강도(強盜)(强盜) (ko) (gangdo)
Kurdish:
Northern Kurdish: talanker (ku), şelîner (ku), rêbirr (ku), korsan (ku), eşqiya (ku), heydûd (ku), nijdevan (ku), çete (ku), rêgir (ku)
Kyrgyz: талоончу (ky) (taloonçu), каракчы (ky) (karakçı)
Lao: ຄົນຂີ້ລັກ (khon khī lak), ຄົນລັກຂອງ (khon lak khǭng), ໂຈນ (chōn)
Latin: lātrō (la) m, lātrunculus m, latroncula
Latvian: laupītājs m
Lithuanian: plėšikas (lt) m
Macedonian: разбојник m (razbojnik), разбојничка f (razbojnička)
Malay: perompak
Manx: roosteyr m
Maori: māhurehure, keiā, kaiā, whānako, tāhae
Meru: mwamba
Middle English: robbour, revere
Mongolian:
Cyrillic: дээрэмчин (mn) (deeremčin), хулгайч (mn) (xulgajč)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: raner m, røver m
Nynorsk: ranar m, røvar m
Ojibwe: gimoodishkiiwinini, makandwewinini
Old English: rēafere m
Persian: راهزن‎ (fa) (râhzan)
Plautdietsch: Reiba m
Polish: złodziej (pl) m, złodziejka (pl) f, rozbójnik (pl) m, rozbójniczka (pl) f
Portuguese: ladrão (pt) m, ladra (pt) f
Romanian: jefuitor (ro) m, tâlhar (ro) m
Russian: граби́тель (ru) m (grabítelʹ), граби́тельница (ru) f (grabítelʹnica), разбо́йник (ru) m (razbójnik), разбо́йница (ru) f (razbójnica)
Sanskrit: चोर (sa) m (cora), चोरी (sa) f (corī)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: ра́збо̄јнӣк m, ра́збојница f
Roman: rázbōjnīk (sh) m, rázbojnica (sh) f
Slovak: zlodej (sk) m, zlodejka f, lupič m, lupička f
Slovene: ropar (sl) m, roparka f, razbojnik m, razbojnica f
Spanish: ladrón (es) m, ladrona (es) f
Swahili: mnyang'anyi (sw)
Swedish: rånare (sv) c, rövare (sv) c
Tajik: роҳзан (rohzan)
Thai: โม่ง (th) (môong), โจร (th) (joon)
Tocharian B: wārṣṣe
Turkish: soyguncu (tr)
Turkmen: ogurlyk
Ukrainian: розбі́йник m (rozbíjnyk), розбі́йниця f (rozbíjnycja)
Urdu: ڈاکو‎ m (ḍākū)
Uyghur: بۇلاڭچى‎ (bulangchi)
Uzbek: bosqinchi (uz), bosmachi (uz), qaroqchi (uz), talovchi (uz)
Vietnamese: kẻ cướp (vi), ăn cướp (vi), cường đạo (vi)
Welsh: lleidr (cy) m, lladron (cy) m pl

Middle English

Noun

robber

Alternative form of robbour

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French rober, see English rob for more information.

Verb

robber

(transitive) to pillage; to plunder
(transitive) to steal; to pinch

Conjugation

Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of robber

infinitive	compound	avoir + past participle
infinitive	simple	robber
present participle¹ or gerund²	simple	robbant
present participle¹ or gerund²	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		robbé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	robbe	robbes	robbe	robbons	robbez	robbent
	imperfect	robbois, robboys	robbois, robboys	robboit, robboyt	robbions, robbyons	robbiez, robbyez	robboient, robboyent
	past historic	robba	robbas	robba	robbasmes	robbastes	robberent
	future	robberai, robberay	robberas	robbera	robberons	robberez	robberont
	conditional	robberois, robberoys	robberois, robberoys	robberoit, robberoyt	robberions, robberyons	robberiez, robberyez	robberoient, robberoyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	robbe	robbes	robbe	robbons	robbez	robbent
(simple tenses)	imperfect	robbasse	robbasses	robbast	robbassions	robbassiez	robbassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
(compound tenses)	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	~~nous~~	~~vous~~	–
simple		—	robbe	—	robbons	robbez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
¹ The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
² The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

robber

present of robbe