Etymograph

English

loot

Loot comes from Hindi लूट ‘booty’.

  1. Hindic. 1500–presentलूट1lūṭ‘booty’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1788loot1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English loot
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1788, Indian Vocabulary: “Loot, plunder, pillage.”.

Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.

Lineage

  1. Hindic. 1500–presentलूटWiktionary, English lootlūṭ‘booty’
  2. Englishearliest quotation 1788lootWiktionary, English loot. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1788, Indian Vocabulary: “Loot, plunder, pillage.”

The story

The figurative meaning developed in American English in the 1920s, resulting in a generalized meaning by the 1950s.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Every English word from Hindi लूट

Another origin of loot

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kleh₂-‘to lay down, deposit, overlay’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*hlōþþijō‘scoop’reconstructed
  3. Frankishc. 250–700*lōtija‘scoop’reconstructed
  4. Old Dutchc. 500–1150*lōtauncertain
  5. Middle Dutchc. 1150–1500loetuncertain
  6. Englishtodayloot

Today it means

noun Synonym of booty, goods seized from an enemy by violence, particularly (historical) during the sacking of a town in war or (video games) after successful combat.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “loot”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Hindi लूट / loot

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