Etymology

theft

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Today it means: The act of stealing property. Full definition →

Middle English theft ← Old English þīefþ ← Proto-West Germanic *þiubīþu
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*þiubīþō“theft”
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*þiubīþu
  3. Old English · inherited fromþīefþ
  4. Middle English · inherited fromtheft
  5. English todaytheft

From Middle English theft, thefte, þefte, þefþe, þiefþe, Old English þīefþ, from Proto-West Germanic *þiubīþu, from Proto-Germanic *þiubīþō (“theft”), from *þiubijaną (“to thieve, steal”), equivalent to thieve + -t (abstract nominal suffix). Cognate with West Frisian tsjeafte (“theft”), dialectal Dutch diefte (“theft”), obsolete German Diebde (“theft”), Icelandic þýfð (“theft”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.