Prowler
/ˈpraʊ.lər/noun
A person or animal that moves around stealthily, especially with suspicious or sinister intent.
Did you know?Prowler comes from the same Germanic root as Old English prēon/prēowan ideas of moving about and peering, and its modern sense of a lurking intruder was sharpened by 17th-century English usage.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*prowlōną
“to move about, wander, or prowl”
Old English
OE
prāwian / prēowian
“to move about, stir, or travel about”
Middle English
ME
prolen / prowlen
“to wander or move stealthily”
16th Century
English
prowl
“to roam about in search of prey or mischief”
17th Century
English
prowler
“one who prowls, especially a thief or suspicious loiterer”
Modern English
English
prowler
“a person or animal that moves around stealthily, especially with suspicious or sinister intent”