crook
n. countablen. a dishonest person, especially one who steals or cheats. You use this word to describe someone you do not trust with money or truth.
n. a person who is dishonest, particularly one who commits fraud or theft. Often used in informal contexts to describe a swindler or thief.
The shop owner was a crook who sold fake goods.
The police arrested the crook after he stole money from the safe.
Investors lost millions when they discovered the CEO was a crook who had been hiding the company's true debts.
From Middle English croke, crok, from Old English crōc (“hook, bend, crook”), from Proto-West Germanic krōk, from Proto-Germanic krōkaz (“bend, hook”), from Proto-Indo-European greg- (“tracery, basket, bend”). Cognate with Dutch kreuk (“a bend, fold, wrinkle”), Middle Low German kroke, krake (“fold, wrinkle”), Danish krog (“crook, hook”), Swedish krok (“crook, hook”), Icelandic krókur (“hook”). Compare typologically Czech křivák (< křivý < Proto-Slavic krivъ, whence also krivьda).
From Middle English crooken, croken, crokien, from Old English crōcian, from Proto-West Germanic krōkōn (“to bend, wrinkle”), from the noun (see above). Cognate with Dutch kreuken (“to crease, rumple”), German Low German kröken (“to bend, offend, suppress”).
From crooked (“dishonestly come by”).