embezzlement
UK[ɪmˈbezlmənt]US[ɪmˈbezəlmənt]
n
The crime of stealing money or property that you are responsible for, especially from your employer.
Morpheme Breakdown
embezzle
ment
embezzle
to make away with, cause to disappear
ment
Etymology
The word 'embezzlement' has a journey through legal and financial language. Its core, 'embezzle', entered English from Anglo-French, where it carried the sense of fraudulent appropriation or making property vanish. The suffix '-ment' was later appended, following a common pattern in English to form nouns denoting the action or result of a verb. Thus, the literal construction means 'the act of causing (funds) to disappear fraudulently'. This evolution from a verb describing stealthy theft to a specific legal noun captures the essence of a crime that breaches trust by secretly diverting assets under one's care.
Analysis
Structure: embezzle + ment
- embezzle: Likely from Anglo-French embesiler, meaning 'to make away with, cause to disappear'. The prefix 'en-' (from Latin 'in-') implies 'in, into', and the root is related to Old French besillier 'to destroy, plunder'.
- ment: A noun-forming suffix of Latin origin (-mentum), indicating the action, process, or result of doing something.
Examples
The accountant was convicted of embezzlement after diverting company funds for personal use.
Strong internal controls are essential to prevent embezzlement within an organization.
The charity's director faced charges of embezzlement, accused of misusing donated money.