What does burgled mean?
Burgled is the past tense and past participle of the verb burgle, meaning to break into a building illegally in order to steal. It appears almost exclusively in the passive voice — one says that a house, shop, or flat 'was burgled' — and carries a distinctly British flavour, though it is understood throughout the English-speaking world. In American usage the equivalent verb is more often 'burglarize', so 'burgled' can subtly signal British English to an attentive reader. The word belongs to everyday speech and journalism rather than formal legal writing, where terms like 'illegally entered' may be preferred. Its history is unusually charming: burgle was coined in the nineteenth century as a back-formation from the older noun 'burglar', on the assumption that such a well-established crime word must once have had a matching verb. That quirky origin makes burgled a small but delightful example of how English speakers routinely reshape their own language.
verbPast tense and past participle of 'burgle': to break into a building illegally in order to steal things.
- To have broken into (a building) illegally with intent to steal — said of a building or its occupants as the victims.
"The flat was burgled while the family was away on holiday."
"Our office was burgled over the weekend, though nothing valuable was taken."
"Elderly residents have complained of being burgled in broad daylight."
'Burgle' was invented by mistake — it's a nineteenth-century back-formation from 'burglar', created because people assumed there had to be a verb to match the noun.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of burgled
Burgled derives from burgle, a verb coined in the nineteenth century by back-formation from the noun burglar. The noun itself entered Middle English via Anglo-Latin forms such as burglator, though its deeper origins remain uncertain. Once burgle was accepted, it developed the standard past form burgled, now the usual way of reporting a completed break-in in British English.
Related word forms
How burgled is actually used
The base verb 'burgle' is chiefly British and informal in register; American English typically prefers 'burglarize'. The passive ('was burgled') is far more common than active uses, since buildings rather than people do the grammatical 'burgling' of no one — victims simply 'are' or 'get' burgled.
Easily confused with burgled
A burglar is the person who commits the theft, whereas burgled is the verb describing the act of breaking in to steal.