Standard Lemma guide

kleptomania

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌklɛp.təˈmeɪ.ni.ə
  • -ˈmeɪn.jə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪniə

1

noun

Meaning 1

A psychological disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsession with stealing without economic or material need.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: human-sciences, psychology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an irresistible impulse to steal in the absence of any economic motive

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mania, passion, cacoethes

History

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κλέπτω (kléptō, “to steal”) + -mania, analyzed as klepto- + -mania.

Across languages

Translations

48 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مرض السرقَة — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Armenian: կլեպտոմանիա (kleptomania) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Bemba: ulu-nwe — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Bengali: চৌর্যোন্মাদ (cōurjōnmad) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Catalan: cleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 盜竊狂症 /盗窃狂症 (dàoqièkuángzhèng) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Chinese Mandarin: 盜竊癖 /盗窃癖 (dàoqièpǐ) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Czech: kleptomanie — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Danish: kleptomani — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Dutch: kleptomanie — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Dutch: steelzucht — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Esperanto: kleptomanio — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Estonian: kleptomaania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Finnish: kleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • French: cleptomanie — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • French: kleptomanie — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • German: Kleptomanie — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • German: Stehlsucht — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Greek: κλεπτομανία (kleptomanía) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Gujarati: ચૌર્યોન્માદ (cauryonmād) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Hindi: चौर्योन्माद (cauryonmād) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Hungarian: kleptománia — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Icelandic: stelsýki — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Interlingua: kleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Italian: cleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Japanese: 盗癖 (tōheki) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Japanese: 窃盗症 (settō-shō) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Korean: 도벽 (dobyeok) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Latin: cleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Macedonian: клептоманија (kleptomanija) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Manx: geidvian — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Māori: mate tāhae — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Norwegian: kleptomani — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Plautdietsch: Stälsucht — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Polish: kleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Portuguese: cleptomania — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Romanian: cleptomanie — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Russian: клептома́ния (kleptománija) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Scottish Gaelic: miann gadachd — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Serbo-Croatian: клептоманија — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Serbo-Croatian: kleptomànija — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Spanish: cleptomanía — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Sranan Tongo: fufurubakru — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Swedish: kleptomani — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Tagalog: kulawin — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Thai: โรคชอบหยิบฉวย (rôok-chɔ̂ɔp-yìp-chǔai) — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Turkish: kleptomani — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing
  • Vietnamese: trộm cắp cưỡng bức — disorder that causes an uncontrollable obsessions with stealing