Embezzle
/ɪmˈbɛz.əl/noun
To steal or fraudulently take money or property entrusted to one’s care.
Did you know?The word came into English from a 16th-century sense of “to plunder” or “waste” in Anglo-French, and its early history is tangled with ideas of pillage and unlawful taking.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*būt- / *bōt-
“A root associated with booty, gain, or plunder”
Old French
OF
embesiller / embeisiller
“To waste, squander, or plunder”
Middle English
ME
embesilen
“To waste or plunder; to deceive or cheat”
16th Century
English
embezzle
“To waste, pilfer, or fraudulently appropriate”
Modern English
English
embezzle
“To steal money or property entrusted to one’s care”