quword 趣词
Word Origins Dictionary
- thief




- thief: [OE] Thief goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *theubaz, which also produced German dieb, Dutch dief, Swedish tjuf, and Danish tyv. It is not clear where this came from, although it might be related to Lithuanian tupeti ‘cower, squat’ and Latvian tupt ‘squat’, in which case it would denote etymologically ‘crouching, furtive person’. From *theubaz was derived *thiūbithō, ancestor of modern English theft.
=> theft - crouch (v.)




- late 14c., probably from Old French crochir "become bent, crooked," from croche "hook" (see crochet). Related: Crouched; crouching. As a noun, from 1590s.