Discussion in 'French-English Vocabulary / Vocabulaire Français-Anglais' started by edmaudantes, Dec 15, 2008.
is there any relevant difference between a thief and a stealer?
I'm not a native, but it seems that you will use thief for the "professional" who wants to steal something in secret. Stealer is for people who "steal" something without secret, i.e. "a girlfriend stealer", s scene-stealer...
Hmm, tricky one. I'd say you'd normally use stealer with what is being stolen e.g scene stealer. Also, a thief is more likely to be someone who steals something concrete, real. Just my feeling, though.
Thief is the word used for someone who is commiting a crime by stealing something. Stealer cannot be used in this way, it is informal and can be used in situations like 'boyfriend-stealer' (an informal, made-up word) as blinnith says, or other less criminal instances of theft such as 'sandwich-stealer!' if someone has taken your lunch from the fridge When a crime is being commited and the law is being broken, stick to thief.
The word "thief" is a noun, which refers to a person who steals. The word "steal" is a verb, which refers to a person taking something without the owner's permission. There is no such noun as "stealer" nor a verb such as "to thieve." Therefore, "a thief steals things" makes sense but to say "a stealer thieves things" does not.
And yes, I know, we have all called our schoolmates "stealers" when they took something of ours in grade school but it was not quite correct English.
Whilst I agree here, that stealer is not proper english but thief is, it's worth pointing out that another commonly used, incorrect word in English is 'to thieve' - "he thieved my lunch!" Definately not correct English, however you may see it every now and again, especially amongst groups of young people.
I agree with Frenchspanish and Machiavelo. Australian usage is exactly the same as in England (and Quebec!).
I don't want to be a time stealer (hum...that'd be another thread) so thanks to all of you for these useful precisions.
I just wanted to mention that "stealer" is in the Oxford English Dictionary though...
Separate names with a comma.