Looting

How to spell looting

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce looting

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does looting mean?

1. verbStealing goods from premises, typically during a riot, war, or disaster.

Looting in a sentence

• Shop owners boarded up their windows to discourage looting during the unrest.

• The police reported widespread looting in the city centre after the blackout.

Where does looting come from?

Language of origin: Sanskrit

This word grows from 'loot', which English picked up in the late 1700s and early 1800s from Hindi 'lūṭ', meaning plunder or stolen goods. That Hindi term traces back to the Sanskrit verb 'luṇṭhati', meaning 'he robs' or 'he steals', so the idea of seizing property by force is built right into its roots. British soldiers and administrators serving in India during the colonial period carried the word home, and it quickly settled into general English. By adding the suffix '-ing', English formed the present participle and verbal noun 'looting', describing the ongoing act of plundering, especially during war or civil disorder. The spelling is more regular than many imports: the double 'o' simply reflects the long 'oo' sound, and the final consonant is not doubled because 'loot' already ends in a consonant after a long vowel sound spelled with two letters.

How the word is built

• loot (plunder, from Hindi/Sanskrit)
• -ing (verb/noun suffix)