Burglaries

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Illegal entries into places intended for theft of items
2. Unauthorized access to property with the goal of stealing valuables
3. Acts of unlawfully entering buildings to take possessions without permission

Etymology: "Burglaries" is the plural of "burglary," and the noun it comes from has an unexpectedly Latin-sounding past for something so bluntly English. Before the Latinate term took over, English speakers described the crime with the native Old English compound "hūsbryċe," literally "house-breach," which was simply a breaking into a house. The newer word arrived from New Latin "burglaria," a legal coinage, and it displaced the older term. The surface analysis of "burglary" is "burglar" plus the suffix "-y," which turns a person-noun into a noun for an act or practice. The "burglar" part is the more opaque one: its own origins are debated, and the source for this entry offers only the surface breakdown, so the deeper history of that element is best treated as uncertain.

Synonyms: thefts, robberies, break-ins, heists, intrusions