Money or goods stolen, especially during war, riots, or other chaos. As a verb, it means to steal goods during such events.
From Hindi लूट (lūṭ) meaning 'plunder' or 'booty', derived from the Sanskrit root लुण्ट् (luṇṭ) meaning 'to rob'. The word entered English in the 18th century through British colonial accounts of warfare and banditry in India, where looting was a common military practice.
This word entered English during the violent colonial period when British forces witnessed and participated in systematic plundering across India! Ironically, a Hindi word describing the theft of wealth became permanently embedded in the language of the colonizers themselves.
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