purloin
/pɜːˈlɔɪn/
"purloin" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“purloin” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a verb. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
Corpus desk
Index EN-purloin · purloin · English
purloin · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "P" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | purloin |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /pɜːˈlɔɪn/ |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “purloin” in English
Rare enough to double-check
purloin is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as averb, transcribed /pɜːˈlɔɪn/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
We couldn't generate a plausible misspelling set for purloin, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier. Doublet of prolong. The correct English form is purloin, spelled P-U-R-L-O-I-N.
Definition
- 1To take the property of another, often in breach of trust; to appropriate wrongfully; to steal.
- 2To commit theft; to thieve.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how purloin appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Had from his wakeful custody purloined / The guarded gold.
Probably my acquaintance, Mr Blank, therefore, would have been able, if he had so wished to do, to purloin the papers which he mentioned.
Etymology
From Middle English purloynen (“to remove”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman purloigner (“to put far away”), one of the variants of Old French porloignier. Doublet of prolong.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.