robber

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English robbour, robbere, either directly taken from or from a calque of Old French robeor. Equivalent to rob +‎ -er.

Compare reaver ("robber, plunderer"), a native English word derived from Proto-Germanic *raubārijaz that is ultimately of more or less the same composition as robber. And compare rover ("a pirate"), another word of the same composition.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɒb.ə(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑ.bɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɒbə(ɹ)

Noun

robber (plural robbers)

2. (crime) A person who robs.
3. An animal who robs.
   • 1907, Frederick William D'Evelyn, “Slaughter of Blue Jays”, in The Condor, volume 9, number 2:

     I remember as a boy in my native land the bad name the common magpie (Pica caudata) had as a destroyer of chickens, and a robber of nests.

Hypernyms

• thief

Hyponyms

• graverobber
• bank robber
• mugger

Derived terms

• camp robber (Perisoreus canadensis)
• cradle robber
• dog robber
• grave robber
• robber baron
• robber crab (Birgus latro)
• robber fly (Asilidae spp.)
• robber frog (Holoadeninae spp.)
• robber gull (Stercorariidae spp.)
• robber steak

 

Related terms

• rob
• robbery

 

Translations

one who robs

• Albanian: grabitës (sq) m, vjedhës (sq) m
• Arabic: سَارِق (ar) m (sāriq), سَارِقَة f (sāriqa), لِصّ m (liṣṣ), لِصَّة f (liṣṣa)
• Armenian: ավազակ (hy) (avazak)
• Azerbaijani: soyğunçu (az)
• Belarusian: разбо́йнік m (razbójnik), разбо́йніца f (razbójnica)
• Bengali: ডাকাত (bn) (ḍakat)
• Bikol Central:

  Bikol Legazpi: mahabas

  Bikol Naga: parahabon (bcl)

• Bulgarian: разбо́йник (bg) m (razbójnik), разбо́йничка f (razbójnička), разбо́йница f (razbójnica)
• Burmese: ပြင်းဟုပ် (my) (prang:hup), ဓားပြ (my) (dha:pra.)
• Catalan: lladre (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 強盜／强盗 (zh) (qiángdào), 盜賊／盗贼 (zh) (dàozéi)

• Czech: zloděj (cs) m, zlodějka (cs) f, lupič (cs) m, lupička f
• Danish: røver c
• Dutch: rover (nl) m
• Egyptian: (ꜥwꜣy)
• Esperanto: rabisto
• Estonian: röövel
• Finnish: ryöstäjä (fi), ryöväri (fi)
• French: brigand (fr) m, bandit (fr) m
• Friulian: ladron m
• Galician: ladrón m, ladroa f, ladra f
• Georgian: ყაჩაღი (q̇ačaɣi), მძარცველი (mʒarcveli)
• German: Räuber (de) m, Räuberin (de) f
• Gothic: 𐍅𐌹𐌻𐍅𐌰 m (wilwa)
• Greek: ληστής (el) m (listís)

  Ancient: λῃστής m (lēistḗs), κιξάλλης m (kixállēs)

• Hebrew: שׁוֹדֵד (he) m (shodéd)
• Hindi: डाकू (hi) m (ḍākū), डकैत (hi) (ḍakait)
• Hungarian: rabló (hu)
• Icelandic: ræningi (is) m
• Indonesian: perampok (id), begal (id)
• Irish: ropaire m, robálaí m, gadaí (ga) m
• Italian: rapinatore (it) m, ladro (it) m, ladrone (it) m
• Japanese: 盗賊 (ja) (とうぞく, tōzoku), 強盗 (ja) (ごうとう, gōtō)
• Kazakh: аламан (alaman), баукеспе (baukespe), жортуылшы (jortuylşy), қарақшы (qaraqşy), тонаушы (tonauşy)
• Khmer: ចោរ (km) (cao), លុម្បក (km) (lumbɑk)
• Korean: 강도(強盜)(强盜) (ko) (gangdo)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: talanker (ku), şelîner (ku), rêbirr (ku), korsan (ku), eşqiya (ku), heydûd (ku), nijdevan (ku), çete (ku), rêgir (ku)

• Kyrgyz: талоончу (ky) (talooncu), каракчы (ky) (karakcı)
• Lao: ຄົນຂີ້ລັກ (khon khī lak), ຄົນລັກຂອງ (khon lak khǭng), ໂຈນ (chōn)
• Latin: lātrō (la) m, lātrunculus m, latroncula
• Latvian: laupītājs m
• Lithuanian: plėšikas (lt) m
• Macedonian: разбојник m (razbojnik), разбојничка f (razbojnička)
• Malay: perompak
• Manx: roosteyr m
• Maori: māhurehure, keiā, kaiā, whānako, tāhae
• Marathi: दरोडेखोर m (daroḍekhor), डाकू m (ḍākū), लुटारु m (luṭāru)
• Meru: mwamba
• Middle English: robbour, revere
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: дээрэмчин (mn) (deeremčin), хулгайч (mn) (xulgajč)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: raner m, røver m

  Nynorsk: ranar m, røvar m

• Ojibwe: gimoodishkiiwinini, makandwewinini
• Old English: rēafere m
• Persian: راهزن (fa) (râhzan), سارق (fa) (sâreq), دزد (fa) (dozd)
• Plautdietsch: Reiba m
• Polish: złodziej (pl) m, złodziejka (pl) f, rozbójnik (pl) m, rozbójniczka (pl) f
• Portuguese: ladrão (pt) m, ladra (pt) f
• Romanian: jefuitor (ro) m, tâlhar (ro) m
• Russian: граби́тель (ru) m (grabítelʹ), граби́тельница (ru) f (grabítelʹnica), разбо́йник (ru) m (razbójnik), разбо́йница (ru) f (razbójnica)
• Sanskrit: चोर (sa) m (cora), चोरी (sa) f (corī)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ра́збо̄јнӣк m, ра́збојница f

  Roman: rázbōjnīk (sh) m, rázbojnica (sh) f

• Slovak: zlodej (sk) m, zlodejka f, lupič m, lupička f
• Slovene: ropar (sl) m, roparka f, razbojnik m, razbojnica f
• Spanish: ladrón (es) m, ladrona (es) f, chori (es) m or f, shacador m (Argentina)
• Swahili: mnyang'anyi (sw)
• Swedish: rånare (sv) c, rövare (sv) c
• Tajik: роҳзан (rohzan), сориқ (soriq), дузд (tg) (duzd)
• Tatar: талаучы (tt) (talawçı)
• Thai: โม่ง (th) (môong), โจร (th) (joon)
• Tocharian B: wārṣṣe
• Turkish: soyguncu (tr)
• Turkmen: ogurlyk, garakçy
• Ukrainian: розбі́йник m (rozbíjnyk), розбі́йниця f (rozbíjnycja)
• Urdu: ڈاکو m (ḍākū)
• Uyghur: بۇلاڭچى (bulangchi), قاراقچى (qaraqchi)
• Uzbek: bosqinchi (uz), bosmachi (uz), qaroqchi (uz), talovchi (uz)
• Vietnamese: kẻ cướp, kẻ ăn cướp, cường đạo (vi)
• Welsh: lleidr (cy) m, lladron (cy) m pl

Middle English

Noun

robber

1. Alternative form of robbour

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French rober.

Verb

robber

1. (transitive) to pillage; to plunder
2. (transitive) to steal; to pinch

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of robber

infinitive	simple	robber
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	robbant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		robbé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	robbe	robbes	robbe	robbons	robbez	robbent
	imperfect	robbois, robboys	robbois, robboys	robboit, robboyt	robbions, robbyons	robbiez, robbyez	robboient, robboyent
	past historic	robba	robbas	robba	robbasmes	robbastes	robberent
	future	robberai, robberay	robberas	robbera	robberons	robberez	robberont
	conditional	robberois, robberoys	robberois, robberoys	robberoit, robberoyt	robberions, robberyons	robberiez, robberyez	robberoient, robberoyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	robbe	robbes	robbe	robbons	robbez	robbent
	imperfect	robbasse	robbasses	robbast	robbassions	robbassiez	robbassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	robbe	—	robbons	robbez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

robber

1. present of robbe