larceny
/ˈlɑː.sən.i/US/ˈlɑɹ.sə.ni/
larceny noun: the unlawful taking of personal property as an attempt to deprive the legal owner of it permanently.
Noun
larceny (countable and uncountable, plural larcenies)
- The unlawful taking of personal property as an attempt to deprive the legal owner of it permanently.
- “Why are you walking around,” inquired Oedipa, “with your eyes closed, Metzger?” “Larceny,” Metzger said, “maybe they'll need a lawyer.”1966 March, Thomas Pynchon, chapter 3, in The Crying of Lot 49, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published November 1976, →ISBN, page 37
- He was prudent enough not to admit he was earning money, which went down well with you, for you knew already he was working “black,” as the Germans call it — meaning illegally, and at night. Shrewd chap, you thought; resourceful; not above a bit of larceny.1986, John le Carré, A Perfect Spy
- An individual instance of such a taking.
- That young man already has four assaults, a DUI, and a larceny on his record.
larceny meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
larceny in Tamil
- திருட்டு
larceny in Urdu
- چوری, دزدی, سرقہ
larceny in Bengali
- চুরি, অন্যের সম্পদ আত্মসাৎ
larceny in Malayalam
- ചെറുകളവ്, മോഷണം, അപഹരണം
More languagesFewer languages
- larceny in Kannada
- ಕಳವು, ಚೌರ್ಯ, ಅಪಹರಣ, ಕಳ್ಳತನ
- larceny in Malay
- larseni
- larceny in Persian
- دزدی dozdi
Synonyms of larceny
Forms of larceny
| plural | larcenies |
|---|
Origin of larceny
Coined in Middle English (as larceni) between 1425 and 1475 from Anglo-Norman larcin (“theft”), from Latin latrocinium (“robbery”), from latro (“robber, mercenary”), from Ancient Greek λάτρον (látron, “pay, hire”). Doublet of latrociny.
Words formed from larceny
Questions about larceny
- What does larceny mean?
- Larceny means the unlawful taking of personal property as an attempt to deprive the legal owner of it permanently.
- What is larceny in Tamil?
- Larceny in Tamil is திருட்டு. See Larceny meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is larceny?
- Larceny is a noun.
- How do you pronounce larceny?
- Larceny is pronounced /ˈlɑː.sən.i/ (UK).
- What is the plural of larceny?
- The plural of larceny is larcenies.
Words near larceny in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: larceny (page history and authors); larceny (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); larceny (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); larceny (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); larceny (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); larceny (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-larceny.wav.
Cite this entry: “larceny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/larceny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.