burglar

The word burglar specifically refers to someone who commits burglary—the crime of breaking into a place to steal things.

A burglar is sometimes called a prowler. A particularly stealthy and skilled burglar is sometimes called a cat burglar.

Antiquated words for burglar include housebreaker, sneakthief, and picklock.

A burglar is a kind of thief, but the word thief is much more general.

A house that has been burglarized can be said to have been robbed, but the word robber typically refers to someone who steals by using force, violence, or threats of force or violence.

A person who specifically steals hamburgers is called a hamburglar.

The crime that a burglar commits is called burglary. In the US, the verb burglarize is used. In the UK, the verb is burgle.

The adjective antiburglary is sometimes used to describe something designed to prevent burglaries, such as bars on windows or a burglar alarm (an electronic security system). A house with such things might be said to be burglarproof.

The much rarer adjective burglarious means “pertaining to or involving burglary.”

Unlike a lot of words that refer to a person who performs a specific action (robber, farmer), burglar ends not in -er or -or but in -ar. The ending likely traces back to Latin origins, probably the verb burgāre, meaning “to thieve.”