Loot is Anglo-Indian, first recorded in English in 1802 in a military dictionary that defines it simply as "Indian term for plunder or pillage." It comes from Hindi lut, from Sanskrit loptram, "booty, stolen property," from a root meaning "to snatch" that also gives English rip.
It belongs with jungle, thug, bungalow and shampoo in the vocabulary the British brought home from India, and like thug it names something the borrowers encountered as a problem of colonial administration. The 1802 dictionary also records lootics, "a body of irregular horsemen who plunder and lay waste the country" — a word that did not survive. The verb followed in 1821. What is notable is how completely loot naturalised: it is now a plain English word with no foreign feel at all.
loot (n.) "goods taken from an enemy, etc.," 1802 (in Charles James's "Military Dictionary," London, which defines it as "Indian term for plunder or pillage"), Anglo-Indian, from Hindi lut , from Sanskrit loptram , lotram "booty, stolen property," from PIE *roup-tro- , from root *reup- "to snatch" (see rip (v.)). LOOTICS, Ind. A term in India to express a body of irregular horsemen, who plunder and lay waste the country, and harrass the enemy in their march. They may be compared to the Hulans of Europe and other free-booters. LOOTY WALLOW, Ind. A term of the same import as Lootics. [James, "Military Dictionary"] also from 1802 loot (v.) "to plunder; carry off as loot," 1821, from loot (n.). Related: Looted ; looting . also from 1821
loot came in through Later and wider borrowings, and its spelling follows that family's conventions.
What gives it away on the page
| everyday domestic words from India | Sanskrit-descended languages, via the Raj.shampoo, bungalow, jungle, pyjamas, loot, thug, guru |
Later and wider borrowings in the spelling guide · guess another word's family