Etymology Explorer › English

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

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishstelesteel
2Old Englishstela—
3Proto-Germanicstelanąto steal; to sneak
4Proto-Indo-Europeantsel-to sneak

Words derived from “steal”

  • stealing
  • stealeth
  • stealest
  • manstealing
  • sheepstealing
  • nonstealing
  • stealable
  • stealingly
  • unstealable
  • unsteal
  • stilim
Every word from Proto-Indo-European tsel- →