Etymologically
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burglary

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈbɜː.ɡlə.ɹi/[1]
  • US: /ˈbɝ.ɡlɚ.i/[1]

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

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