pilferyoudaoicibaDictYouDict[pilfer 词源字典]
pilfer: [14] Originally pilfering was quite a serious matter, roughly what would now be termed plundering, but gradually over the centuries is has become trivialized to ‘stealing small things’. It was to begin with only a noun in English (the verb did not arrive until the 16th century), but its ultimate source was the Anglo- Norman verb pelfrer ‘rob, plunder’. No one is too sure where that came from, although it may be related in some way to the now archaic pelf ‘money’ [14], which originally meant ‘spoils, booty’.
[pilfer etymology, pilfer origin, 英语词源]
pilfer (v.)youdaoicibaDictYouDict
1540s, from pilfer (n.) "spoils, booty," c. 1400, from Old French pelfre "booty, spoils" (11c.), of unknown origin, possibly related to pelf. Related: Pilfered; pilfering.