Pilferers

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. People who engage in the act of secretly stealing small items belonging to others
2. Individuals who take possessions clandestinely, often in minor amounts, from various sources
3. Those who take small items without permission, often trying to avoid notice

Etymology: "Pilferers" is the plural of "pilferer," which is simply "pilfer" with the agent suffix "-er" attached. The suffix has a long pedigree: it passed into English through Middle English "-ere," which descends from Old English "-ere," and that in turn traces back through Proto-Germanic to the Latin suffix "-arius," which denoted a person connected with or engaged in something. The same ending appears in words such as "baker" and "farmer," so a pilferer is, literally, one who makes a practice of pilfering. The base verb "pilfer" is the more interesting half of the word. It is a relatively late English formation, built on the same "-er" pattern, and its sense of petty, furtive theft of small things, rather than outright robbery, is the one that has stayed with it. The word's whole character lies in that smallness: a pilferer takes little and takes quietly.

Synonyms: thieves, robbers