What does burgle mean?
To burgle is to enter a building illegally with the intention of stealing — in other words, to commit a burglary. The word functions both transitively and intransitively: one can say thieves burgled a house, or simply that a house was burgled. Although its playful sound leads some people to assume it is informal slang, burgle is fully standard, particularly in British English, where it is the everyday choice over the American equivalent burglarize. The word arose in the nineteenth century as a humorous back-formation from the older noun burglar, meaning speakers effectively invented a verb by trimming what looked like a suffix. It remains useful precisely because it names a specific crime — unlawful entry combined with theft — more narrowly than general verbs like rob or steal, which can describe taking property without any breaking-and-entering element.
verbTo illegally enter a building and steal from it; to commit burglary against a home or premises.
- (of a person) to break into a building in order to steal from it
- (of a building) to be entered and robbed by a burglar
"The flat was burgled while the family were away on holiday."
"Thieves burgled the vicarage on Saturday night, taking only the silver."
"Our office was burgled twice last year before security cameras were installed."
"Burgle" isn't ancient English at all — it's a cheeky 19th-century back-formation, invented by treating the older word "burglar" as if it came from a verb that never existed.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of burgle
Burgle was formed in the mid-nineteenth century, chiefly in Britain, as a back-formation from burglar, an earlier borrowing ultimately derived from medieval Latin burgator, related to the notion of unlawful entry into a fortified place (a burg). Speakers treated burglar as though it ended in a Latinate agentive suffix and stripped it away to produce a verb. Its American counterpart burglarize arose around the same period through similar reasoning. Closely related words include burglary, burglarious, and burglarize.
How burgle is actually used
"Burgle" is a humorous-sounding but entirely accepted verb, far more common in British than American English, where "burglarize" predominates. Some style guides once frowned on it as a needless back-formation, but it has long been standard. It carries no strong connotation beyond ordinary criminal usage.
Easily confused with burgle
"Burglarize" is the standard American equivalent of "burgle", which is the form preferred in British English.
You rob a person or place by taking something from it, whereas you burgle a building specifically by entering it unlawfully to steal.