Larcin

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An act of stealing, or the thing that has been taken unlawfully, a term used mostly in older or literary English
2. The crime of taking another person's property secretly, or the object so taken, in older and literary usage
3. A dated word for theft, referring either to the wrongful act of taking goods or to the stolen goods themselves

Etymology: "Larcin" is an old English word for theft, especially a petty or sneaky one, and it reached English from Old French "larcin", which came from Latin "latrocinium", meaning robbery or brigandage. The Latin root "latro" meant a mercenary soldier or bandit, a sense that survives in the word's distant cousin "latrocinium" but has largely faded from the modern French and English uses. English borrowed the word in the 14th century, and it appeared in the works of writers such as Chaucer's contemporaries, where it carried the heavier sense of outright robbery. Over time it narrowed toward lighter offences, which is why the word now often sounds more literary than criminal.

Synonyms: larceny, theft, thievery, stealing, pilfering

Antonyms: restitution