Varastaja

Varastaja is a Finnish noun meaning a person who steals, i.e., a thief. It is formed from the verb varastaa, “to steal,” with the agent suffix -ja, literally producing “the one who steals.” The term is used to refer to someone who commits theft, regardless of the scale or method, such as petty theft, shoplifting, or burglary.

In everyday language varastaja and varkas (thief) are both understood, but varastaja tends to be a neutral descriptive term, while varkas is more common in colloquial speech. In legal contexts the crime itself is described as varkaus (theft), whereas varastaja denotes the offender rather than the act. The word should not be confused with varasto, which means a storage facility or the act of storing; the two share a common root but belong to different meanings.

Usage examples include: Varastaja yritti varastaa kellon. Poliisille ilmoitettiin varastajasta, joka toimi pimeän kaupan tiloissa. These illustrate the typical function of varastaja in sentences: identifying the person who commits the theft.

Related terms include varkaus (the theft) and varas (thief), with varas being a more common everyday noun for the criminal. Varastaja is a concise, neutral term suitable for descriptive, journalistic, and literary contexts in Finnish.