burglary

Etymology

It is borrowed from Anglo-Norman burglarie, a term of legal French,^[2][3][4][5] formed from burgler (“burglar”) and the suffix -ie.^[4][3] Anglo-Latin had Medieval Latin burgaria and burgeria in the early 13th century, and burglaria is found in the 16th century;^[6] Etymonline derives the English word from this last form.^[7] Like burglar, it goes back to burgator (“burglar”),^[7][8][6] which Etymonline and Barnhart derive from burgō (“to break open, commit burglary”), from Latin burgus (“fortress, castle”), a borrowing from Germanic related to borough;^[7][8] the OED suggests instead that it may come from the first element of the native English legal term burgh-breche.^[6] The origin of the -l- is not clear.^[6][8] The old idea, put forward by Lambarde in 1581, that the ending stands for laroun (“thief”), from latrō, is contrary to the evidence according to the OED,^[6] although Etymonline still allows an influence of the Latin word.^[7] Johnson (1755) derived the word from “burg”, a house, and French larron (“thief”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The crime of breaking into a house by night with intent to commit a felony: first recorded in a statute of 1532–3 (24 Henry VIII).^[6] Merriam-Webster dates the word to about 1523 and the Shorter Oxford to the early 16th century,^[4][2] while Etymonline gives about 1200 and Dictionary.com 1150–1200.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

In English law the crime was at first a breaking into a dwelling by night; it later became a statutory crime of entering a building by day or by night with criminal intent.^[6][2] Johnson (1755) noted that in its natural sense the word meant no more than the robbing of a house, but that lawyers restricted it to robbing a house by night, or breaking in with intent to rob or commit another felony.^[9] Black's Law Dictionary likewise distinguishes the common-law offence, breaking into another's dwelling at night with intent to commit a felony, from the modern statutory offence, which covers any building and any time of day.^[10] From 1609 the word was also used of a single act of breaking in, and it is used figuratively from 1636.^[6] In the 16th and 17th centuries burglary could also mean a burglar (1533–1651), and Florio used it as a verb in 1598.^[6]

Timeline

• 1532 – the crime of breaking into a house by night with intent to commit a felony.^[6]
• 1533 – a burglar (obsolete by 1651).^[6]
• 1598 – used as a verb, in Florio's dictionary.^[6]
• 1609 – a single act of breaking into a house.^[6]
• 1636 – figurative use.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The crime of entering a building illegally, usually to steal: The gang was charged with three counts of burglary.^[4][11][6]
2. (law) At common law, the breaking into and entering of another person's dwelling at night with intent to commit a felony; under modern statutes, the unlawful entry of any building at any time with such intent.^[4][10]
3. A single instance of this crime: There were two burglaries on our street last month.^[6][4]

Word family

• burglarious
• burglariously
• antiburglary

Related words

• burglar
• burglar alarm
• burglarize
• burglarproof
• burgle
• cat burglar
• borough
• larceny

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
11. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins