Other forms: burglars
A burglar is a criminal who breaks into homes to take what is inside. The window forced at the back, and everything turned over.
The crime is burglary, and the verb is burgle in Britain and burglarize in America, which is one of the odder differences between them. The word requires entry into a building, which is what separates burglary from robbery, since robbery involves force against a person. English gives us the burglar alarm and the cartoon burglar with a striped jumper and a bag marked swag.
1nounburglarA person who breaks into a building in order to steal.
“The burglar had come in through the kitchen window.”
A burglar is a town-breaker. Medieval Latin burglātor goes back to burgus, a fortified town, from Frankish burg, a fortress, so the crime was named for the walls it got through.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰerǵʰ-
Old French
burgeor — burglar
Proto-Germanic
*burgz
Frankish
*burg — fortress
Latin
burgus — fortified town
Medieval Latin
burglātor
English, today
burglar
Built from
16th century, from Medieval Latin burglātor, British byform of burgātor (“burglar”), derived from burgō (“to commit burglary”), from Latin burgus (“fortified town”), itself probably from Frankish burg (“fortress”), from Proto-Germanic burgz, burgiją (“borough, watch-tower”). The -l- in burglātor may have been inserted under influence from Latin latro (“thief”). The shortened English form may have arisen through confluence with Old French burgeor (“burglar”), itself from the same Latin source.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA