# plunder

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˈplʌndə/ · frequency rank #25,534

## Definitions
1. To pillage, take or destroy all the goods of, by force (as in war); to raid, sack.
2. To take (goods) by pillage.
3. To take by force or wrongfully; to commit robbery or looting, to raid.
4. To make extensive (over)use of, as if by plundering; to use or use up wrongfully.
5. To take unexpectedly.

## Etymology
Recorded since 1632 during the Thirty Years War, native British use since the Cromwellian Civil War. Borrowed from German plündern (“to loot”), from Middle High German, from Middle Low German plunderen, from a noun originally meaning "household goods, bedding, clothing," of obscure ultimate origin. This is first attested in medieval records, and according to Gijsseling, is therefore attested too late to be considered a substrate word. Due to the lack of obvious cognates in other languages from which it would have been loaned, it could have developed as some slang word in Lower Saxony/the Low Countries.
Cognate with Dutch plunderen, West Frisian plonderje, Saterland Frisian plunnerje. Probably denominal from a word for “household goods, clothes, bedding”; compare Middle Dutch plunder, German Plunder (“stuff”), Dutch and West Frisian plunje (“clothes”).
The Philippine definition originates with the Anti-Plunder Act (Republic Act No. 7080).

## Easily confused with
- **plunge** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-plunge)
- **ponder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-ponder)
- **punter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-punter)
- **plunged** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-plunged)
- **plunger** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-plunger)
- **pounder** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-pounder)
- **plunges** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plunder-vs-plunges)
- **pander** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pander-vs-plunder)
- **planner** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/planner-vs-plunder)
- **plumber** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plumber-vs-plunder)
- **planter** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/planter-vs-plunder)
- **Plummer** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plummer-vs-plunder)

## Common misspellings (11)
`lpunder`, `pllunder`, `plnuder`, `pludner`, `plundder`, `plunderr`, `plundre`, `plunedr`, `plunnder`, `pplunder`, `pulnder`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/plunder