thief

thief

English

Alternative forms

• theef

Etymology

From Middle English thef, theef, þef, from Old English þēof, from Proto-West Germanic *þeub, from Proto-Germanic *þeubaz. Spelling from Northern England, where /eːo/ became [iə] rather than [eː]. (Compare the spelling of deep from Old English deop.)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: thēf, IPA^(key): /θiːf/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /θif/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iːf

Noun

thief (plural thieves)

1. One who carries out a theft.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:thief

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act I, scene iii]:

     water-thieves and land-thieves

2. One who steals another person's property, especially by stealth and without using force or violence.
   • 1580, Thomas Tusser, “74. A Digression.”, in Fiue Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie: […], London: […] Henrie Denham [beeing the assigne of William Seres] […], OCLC 837741850; republished as W[illiam] Payne and Sidney J[ohn Hervon] Herrtage, editors, Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie. […], London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Trübner & Co., […], 1878, OCLC 7391867535, stanza 4, page 166:

     Take heed to false harlots, and more, ye wot what. / If noise ye heare, / Looke all be cleare: / Least drabs doe noie thee, / And theeues destroie thee.

3. (obsolete) A waster in the snuff of a candle.
   • 1640, Joseph Hall, Divine Light

     But hear you, my Worthy Brethren: do not you, where you see a thief in the candle, call presently for an extinguisher […]

Hypernyms

• (one who carries out a theft): See Thesaurus:criminal

Hyponyms

• burglar
• cat burglar
• mugger
• pickpocket
• robber

 

Derived terms

• oxygen thief
• thick as thieves
• thief ant
• thiefdom
• thief in law
• thief in the night
• thieflike
• thiefly
• thievish

 

Related terms

• thieve

Translations

one who carries out theft

Abkhaz: аӷьычҩы (ağʲəčjʷə) Afrikaans: dief (af) Albanian: vjedhës (sq) m, vjedhëse (sq) f Amharic: ሌባ (am) (leba) Arabic: لِصّ‎ m (liṣṣ), لِصَّة‎‎ f (liṣṣa), سَارِق‎ (ar) m (sāriq), سَارِقَة‎ f (sāriqa), حَرَامِيّ‎ m (ḥarāmiyy), حَرَامِيَّة‎‎ f (ḥarāmiyya) Egyptian Arabic: حرامى‎ m (ḥarāmi) Gulf Arabic: بايك‎ m (bāyeg) Hijazi Arabic: حرامي‎ m (ḥarāmi) Moroccan Arabic: سراق‎ m (sarrāq), شفار‎ f (šaffār) Aragonese: furtaire m Archi: цӏогьор (cʼohor) Armenian: գող (hy) (goł) Aromanian: fur m, furcudar, haramiu, chisãgi, caceac Assamese: চোৰ (sür) Asturian: lladrón m Avar: цӏогьор (cʼohor) Azerbaijani: oğru (az) Baluchi: دز‎ Bashkir: бур (bur), уғры (uğrı), ҡараҡ (qaraq) Basque: lapur, ebasle Belarusian: зло́дзей m (zlódzjej), зладзе́йка f (zladzjéjka) Bengali: চোর (cor) Bikol Central: paraikit Breton: laer (br) m Bulgarian: краде́ц (bg) m (kradéc), арами́я m (aramíja) (dated), арами́йка f (aramíjka) Burmese: သူခိုး (my) (suhkui:) Catalan: lladre (ca) m Cebuano: kawatan Chamicuro: ma'koleti Chechen: къу (qʼu) Cherokee: ᎦᏃᏍᎩᏍᎩ (ganosgisgi) Chichewa: wakuba Chinese: Cantonese: 賊／贼, 贼 (caak6-2) Dungan: зый (zɨy), вэзый (vezɨy) Hakka: 賊仔／贼仔 (chhe̍t-é) Mandarin: 賊／贼 (zh) (zéi), 盜賊／盗贼 (zh) (dàozéi), 小偷 (zh) (xiǎotōu), 宵小 (zh) (xiāoxiǎo), 竊賊／窃贼 (zh) (qièzéi) Min Nan: 賊仔／贼仔 (zh-min-nan), 贼仔 (chha̍t-á), 勍仔 (zh-min-nan) (khiang-á) Chuvash: вӑрӑ (vără) Cimbrian: diip m Corsican: latru (co) m Czech: zloděj (cs) m, zlodějka (cs) f Danish: tyv (da) c, tyveknægt c (male) Dutch: dief (nl) m, dievegge (nl) f, gannef (nl) m Egyptian: (ꜥwꜣy), (jṯꜣ) Emilian: please add this translation if you can Esperanto: ŝtelisto (eo) Estonian: varas (et) Ewe: fiafi n, fiafitɔ n Extremaduran: please add this translation if you can Faroese: tjóvur m Finnish: varas (fi), voro (fi), ryöväri (fi), rosvo (fi) Franco-Provençal: lârro m French: voleur (fr) m, voleuse (fr) f Friulian: lari m Galician: ladrón m, lespio m, galafate m, ladroeiro m, gallofo m, regatiñeiro m, surpón m Gallo: please add this translation if you can Georgian: ქურდი (kurdi) German: Dieb (de) m, Diebin (de) f Gothic: 𐌷𐌻𐌹𐍆𐍄𐌿𐍃 m (hliftus), 𐌸𐌹𐌿𐍆𐍃 m (þiufs) Greek: κλέφτης (el) m (kléftis) Ancient: κλέπτης m (kléptēs), κλώψ m (klṓps), φώρ m (phṓr) Gujarati: દસ્યુ m (dasyu) Hebrew: גַּנָּב‎ (he) m (ganáv) Hiligaynon: kawatan Hindi: चोर (hi) m (cor) Hungarian: tolvaj (hu) Icelandic: þjófur (is) Ido: furtanto (io) Indonesian: pencuri (id) Ingrian: varas Ingush: къу (qʼu) Irish: gadaí (ga) m Istriot: laro m Italian: ladro (it) m, ladra (it) f, ladruncolo m, borsaiolo (it) m, scippatore (it) m, mariolo (it) m, taccheggiatore (it), malandrino (it) m, borseggiatore (it) Japanese: 泥棒 (ja) (どろぼう, dorobō), 盗賊 (ja) (とうぞく, tōzoku), 窃盗 (ja) (せっとう, settō) Javanese: maling (jv), bajingan (jv) (pejorative) Kalmyk: хулхач (hulhach) Kannada: ಕಳ್ಳ (kn) (kaḷḷa) Kazakh: ұры (kk) (ūry) Khmer: ចោរ (km) (cao) Kikuyu: mũici class 1 Komi-Permyak: гусь (gusʹ) Korean: 도둑 (ko) (doduk) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: دز‎ (ku) (diz) Northern Kurdish: diz (ku) Kyrgyz: ууру (ky) (uuru) Ladin: lère m Ladino: Hebrew: לאד׳רון‎ m Roman: ladrón m, ladhron m Lao: ກະໂມຽ (ka mōi), ຂະໂມຍ (lo) (kha mōi), ໂຈນ (chōn) Latin: fūr (la) m or f, latro (la) m Latvian: zaglis m, zagle f Laz: mamxire Leonese: please add this translation if you can Lezgi: угъри (uġri) Ligurian: laddro m Lithuanian: vagis m Livonian: salāj Lombard: lader (lmo) m Low German: Deef m Frisian: North Frisian: tiif m (Föhr-Amrum) Luxembourgish: Déif (lb) m Macedonian: крадец m (kradec), (poetic) арамија m (aramija) Malagasy: kary (mg), fangalarina (mg) Malay: pencuri (ms) Malayalam: കള്ളൻ (ml) (kaḷḷaṉ), മോഷ്ടാവ് (ml) (mōṣṭāvŭ) Maltese: ħalliel m Maori: kaiā, tāhae, whānako Mapudungun: weñefe Marathi: चोर m or f (cor) Mirandese: lhadron m Mongolian: Cyrillic: хулгайч (mn) (xulgajč), хулгай (mn) (xulgaj) Mwani: mwivi Nanai: чово Navajo: aniʼįįhii Neapolitan: latro m, mariuólo m, mariunciéllo m, ferraiuólo m, màneco 'ancino m Nepali: चोर (ne) (cor) Ngazidja Comorian: mwidzi class 1/2 Norman: voleux m Norwegian: Bokmål: tyv (no) m, tjuv (no) m Nynorsk: tjuv m Occitan: raubaire (oc) m, raubaira (oc) f Ojibwe: gimoodishk Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: татъ m (tatŭ), зълодѣи m (zŭloděj) Old English: þēof m Old Norse: þjófr m Oriya: ଚୋର (or) (corô) Oromo: hattuu Pashto: غل‎ (ps) m (ǧal) Persian: دزد‎ (fa) (dozd), حرامی‎ (fa) (harâmi) (dated) Phoenician: 𐤀𐤂𐤓𐤃‎ pl (ʾgrd) Piedmontese: làder m Polish: złodziej (pl) m, złodziejka (pl) f, kradziej (pl) (dialectal) Portuguese: ladrão (pt) m, ladra (pt) f Punjabi: ਚੋਰ m (cor) Quechua: suwa Rohingya: sur Romagnol: lêdar m Romani: ćor m Romanian: hoț (ro) m, hoață (ro) f Romansch: lader m, leder m Russian: вор (ru) m (vor), воро́вка (ru) f (voróvka), ворю́га (ru) m or f (vorjúga) (disparaging), вори́шка (ru) m or f (voríška) (petty thief, colloquial) Sanskrit: चोर (sa) m (cora), चोरी (sa) f (corī) Scottish Gaelic: mèirleach m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ло́пов m, та̏т m, кра̀дљивац m, хара̀мија m Roman: lópov (sh) m, tȁt (sh) m, kràdljivac (sh) m, haràmija (sh) m Sicilian: latru (scn) m, latruni (scn) m, larruni (scn) m Sidamo: mooraancho Sinhalese: හොරා (horā) Slovak: zlodej (sk) m, zlodejka f Slovene: tat (sl) m Somali: tuug Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: złoźej m Upper Sorbian: paduch m Spanish: ladrón (es) m, caco (es) m (colloquial), chorizo (es) m (colloquial), mangante m (colloquial), amigo de lo ajeno (es) (colloquial) Sundanese: maling Svan: ქუ̂ით (kûit) Swahili: mwizi (sw), mnyang'anyi (sw) class 1/2 Swedish: tjuv (sv) c Tabasaran: угъри (uġri) Tagalog: magnanakaw Tajik: дузд (tg) (duzd) Talysh: دزد‎ (dəzd) Tamil: திருடன் (ta) (tiruṭaṉ) Taos: tràmpi’ína Tarantino: please add this translation if you can Tatar: карак (tt) (qaraq) Telugu: దొంగ (te) (doṅga) Thai: ขโมย (th) (kà-mooi), โจร (th) (joon) Tibetan: རྐུ་མ (rku ma) Tocharian B: lyak Turkish: hırsız (tr), uğru (tr); kuldur (tr) (regional), karak (tr) (regional) Turkmen: ogry Tuvan: оор (oor) Ukrainian: зло́дій m (zlódij), зло́дійка f (zlódijka) Urdu: چور‎ m (cor) Uyghur: ئوغرى‎ (oghri) Uzbek: oʻgʻri (uz) Venetian: laro m, ladro m, ladron m Vietnamese: kẻ trộm (vi), kẻ cắp (vi), ăn trộm (vi) Vilamovian: dīb Volapük: (♂♀) tifan (vo), (♂) hitifan, (♀) jitifan (vo) Walloon: voleu (wa) m, voleuse (wa) f, volresse (wa) f Waray-Waray: buyon Welsh: lleidr (cy) m, lladron (cy) m pl Westrobothnian: tjyv Yiddish: גנבֿ‎ m (ganev), גנבֿטע‎ f (ganevte) Yucatec Maya: ookol Zazaki: tırıter c, xırxız c

Anagrams

• feith, theif