Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·South Asia ·1780s
Loot
from luṭ (Hindi)
- Meaning
- Plunder, booty — both verb and noun.
- Source word
- luṭ (Hindi)
- Route into English
- Military slang from the 1780s, used by British soldiers in India. Entered general English with the East India Company's looting economy.
- Arrived
- 1780s
From South Asia
Three centuries of British colonial contact — East India Company, Raj, military, domestic life — deposited a distinct Hindi/Urdu/Bengali/Sanskrit layer in everyday English.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.