Definition

1. Verb:
   • To steal: To take something that belongs to someone else without their permission or knowledge, especially in a secretive manner.
   • To filch / to pilfer: To steal something of relatively small value, often in a casual or sneaky way.

Usage Examples

• Verb:
  • Gã lưu manh bị bắt quả tang đang ăn cắp một chiếc xe đạp. (The scoundrel was caught red-handed stealing a bicycle.)
  • Kẻ nghiện ma túy có thể ăn cắp vặt bất cứ lúc nào. (Drug addicts can pilfer at any time.)
  • Đứa trẻ bị phát hiện đang ăn cắp tiền trong ví của mẹ. (The child was discovered stealing money from his mother's wallet.)

Advanced Usage

• "ăn cắp vặt": to pilfer, to commit petty theft.

  • Anh ta có thói ăn cắp vặt ở siêu thị. (He has a habit of shoplifting at the supermarket.)

• "ăn cắp ý tưởng": to steal ideas, to plagiarize conceptually.

  • Công ty đó bị tố cáo ăn cắp ý tưởng thiết kế. (That company was accused of stealing design ideas.)

Variants and Related Words

• Ăn trộm (v): to rob, to burgle. Often implies a more serious or larger-scale theft.

  • Căn hộ của họ bị kẻ lạ mặt ăn trộm. (Their apartment was burgled by a stranger.)

• Ăn cướp (v): to rob, to snatch by force. Implies the use of threat or violence.

  • Tên cướp dùng súng để ăn cướp ngân hàng. (The robber used a gun to rob the bank.)

Synonyms

• Steal: The most general term for taking someone's property illegally.
• Filch: To steal something small or of little value, often slyly.
• Pilfer: To steal things of small value, especially repeatedly or in small quantities.
• Purloin (formal/literary): To steal something.

Related Idioms

• Ăn cắp quen tay, ngủ ngày quen mắt: Literally "Used to stealing, used to sleeping during the day." Means that bad habits, once formed, become hard to break.

  • Hắn ta cứ tiếp tục phạm tội, đúng là ăn cắp quen tay. (He kept committing crimes; it's true that once you start stealing, it becomes a habit.)

• Ăn cắp như rươi: To steal in great numbers or very frequently (comparing thieves to a swarm of midges).

  • Khu chợ này lúc nào cũng có kẻ ăn cắp như rươi. (This market always has thieves swarming like midges.)

verb

1. To steal, to filch, to pilfer
   • gã lưu manh bị bắt quả tang đang ăn cắp một chiếc xe đạp
     the scoundrel is caught stealing a bicycle
   • kẻ nghiện ma túy có thể ăn cắp vặt bất cứ lúc nào
     drug addicts can pilfer at any time
   • phạm tội ăn cắp
     to be guilty of theft
   • thói ăn cắp vặt, thói tắt mắt
     kleptomania
   • người hay ăn cắp vặt, người tắt mắt
     kleptomaniac