Etymologically
Log in

rob

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 03:56. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: UK /rɒb/, US /rɑːb/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English robben, borrowed from Old French rober (“to rob, steal, pillage”),[2][3][4] from a Germanic source,[3][5] West Germanic *rauba “booty”,[2] from Proto-Germanic *raubōną (“to rob”),[2][3] which also gave German rauben and Old English rēafian, the source of reave and bereave.[3][2][4][6] Word Origins notes that robe comes from the same Germanic root meaning “booty”, clothing being the kind of property taken in a raid.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

To steal from, plunder or pillage: probably before 1200 in Barnhart, in the Ancrene Riwle; the late 12th century in Etymonline.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

To plunder a place is from about 1230,[7] and to commit robbery in general from 1297.[7] To rob Peter to pay Paul is from about 1380, in Wycliffe.[7][2] In football, to take the ball from an opponent is from 1882.[7] Rob the cradle is attested from 1864, of drafting young men in the American Civil War, and by 1949 of romances with younger people.[2] Robber and robbery are from before 1200.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1200 – to steal from.[3]
  • c. 1230 – to plunder a place.[7]
  • c. 1380 – rob Peter to pay Paul.[7]
  • 1864 – rob the cradle.[2]
  • 1882 – in football.[7]

Modern meaning

Verb

  1. To take property from a person or place illegally, by force or threat.
  2. To deprive someone unfairly of something: robbed of victory.

Word family

  • robber
  • unrobbed
  • robbery
  • reave
  • bereave
  • robe
  • rover

Usage notes

Rob, a syrup of fruit juice boiled down, is a different word (1578), through Medieval Latin from Arabic rubb.[7][8][5]

References

  1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  4. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press