Plural of 'thief'; people who steal things that don't belong to them.
From Old English 'þeof,' related to Old Norse 'þjófr.' The word is part of an ancient Germanic family of words for stealth and theft.
The word 'thief' is one of the oldest insults in English, which makes sense—theft has been a problem for as long as humans have had property. The fact that we have an ancient word for it shows how universal this crime is across cultures and time.
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