Kleptomane

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. Someone who has an uncontrollable urge to steal objects they do not need, often without any clear financial motive
2. A person afflicted with a compulsion to take things belonging to others, even when they could easily afford to buy them
3. One who repeatedly shoplifts or pilfers items driven by an irresistible psychological impulse rather than by need or gain

Etymology: Before it named a compulsion, the Greek "kleptein" simply meant "to steal," and the word's second half, "-mane," comes from "manēs," meaning "mad" or "raving." Combined, the pieces describe a person driven by a frenzy to take things. The same "-mane" ending appears in older formations such as "dipsomane," for someone with an irresistible craving for drink. The compound was built in the modern era from these classical parts, not coined by the Greeks, who had no such concept. Its French form, "kleptomane," passed into English as a variant of "kleptomaniac," the more common form, which adds the agent suffix "-iac." English speakers still use "kleptomane" as a rarer, more Frenchified alternative for the same kind of person.