Stolen
/ˈstoʊlən/noun
Taken without the owner's permission, especially secretly or by force.
Did you know?‘Stolen’ is the past participle of *steal*, and that verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *stelaną*, a root shared with words for stealthy taking across Germanic languages.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*stel-
“to steal, rob; to place, set”
Proto-Germanic
PGmc
*stelaną
“to steal”
Old English
English
stelan
“to steal”
Old English
English
stolen
“past participle of steal; taken secretly or unlawfully”
Modern English
English
stolen
“taken without permission”