Steal
/stiːl/noun
To take someone else's property without permission or legal right.
Did you know?English steal comes from a Germanic root meaning “to steal” or “to creep,” and it’s related to words like stealth and stale, where the original idea was movement or condition that slips out of sight.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*stel-
“to steal, creep, or move stealthily”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*stelaną
“to steal”
Old English
OE
stelan
“to steal”
Middle English
ME
stelen
“to steal”
Modern English
English
steal
“to take without permission”