embezzler

Etymology

It is formed from English embezzle + -er.^[2][3] Embezzle is from Middle English embesilen,^[4][3] from Anglo-Norman enbesiler (“to make away with, cause to disappear, fraudulently destroy”),^[2][3] recorded from 1321–22.^[5] The Anglo-Norman verb is formed with the prefix en- from Old French besillier (“to maltreat, ravage, destroy”),^[2][3][6] which Etymonline and Ayto call of unknown origin.^[3][6] The OED reports Paul Meyer's derivation of it from Latin bis-, used as a pejorative prefix in Late Latin.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who embezzles: 1667, in Pepys's Diary for 25 July.^[2] Etymonline likewise gives the 1660s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun appeared after its verb had changed.^[2][3] The verb first meant simply to steal or make away with something, from 1469,^[2][6] and its only current sense, to divert money to one's own use in breach of trust, dates from the 1580s.^[2][3] In modern finance the economist John Kenneth Galbraith took bezzle from the verb in The Great Crash, 1929 (1954), for the stock of embezzlement not yet discovered, and by 2000 Charlie Munger had coined febezzler, a blend with finance.^[7]

Timeline

• 1667 – one who embezzles.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person who embezzles; someone who steals money or property entrusted to them, especially from an employer: The audit exposed the treasurer as an embezzler.^[4][2][1]

Related words

• embezzle
• embezzlement
• bezzle

Usage notes

Hendrickson reports a theory that the first embezzlers were cheats who used a chisel, French bezel, to shave gold and silver coins, passing the coins off at face value and melting the shavings into bullion.^[8] Neither the OED nor Etymonline mentions it.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
7. ^ Popik, Barry, The Big Apple, barrypopik.com, p. "Febezzler", 9 April 2015
8. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File