theft
Pluralthefts
- 1The act of stealing property that belongs to someone else.
Car theft in the neighborhood fell after the city installed brighter streetlights.
She was charged with theft after security found the unpaid jewelry in her bag.
Note
The word is thief with an old abstract ending, -t, that turns the person into the deed; English has had it since Old English þīefþ. As a crime in general it is uncountable (guilty of theft, bike theft, resource theft), while single cases are counted (a string of thefts), and whatever was taken follows of: the theft of a gold necklace.
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Origin
From Middle English theft, thefte, from Old English þīefþ, from Proto-West Germanic *þiubiþu and Proto-Germanic *þiubiþō, built on *þeubaz ("thief"); it is equivalent to thief or thieve plus the noun-forming suffix -t. It is related to Old Frisian thiuvethe, dialectal Dutch diefte, obsolete German Diebde and Icelandic þýfð, all meaning "theft".