Where does “steal” come from?

Steal comes from Middle English stelen, from Old English stelan, from Proto-Germanic stelaną, from Proto-Indo-European tsel-.

steal (English): To take illegally, or without the owner's...

Definitions

  1. To take illegally, or without the owner's...

Ancestry of “steal”, step by step

steal traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Middle English stele

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishstelesteel
2Old Englishstelastalk (of a plant)
3Proto-Germanicstelanąto steal; to sneak
4Proto-Indo-Europeantsel-to sneak

via Middle English stelen

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishstelento steal
2Old Englishstelanto steal
3Proto-West Germanic*stelanto steal

Words derived from “steal”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European tsel- →