spy

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B1 — Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun (military) a secret agent hired by a state to obtain information about its enemies or by a business to obtain industrial secrets from competitors
  2. noun a secret watcher; someone who secretly watches other people
  3. verb catch sight of

Etymology

From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French espier (“to spy”), from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Akin to German spähen (“to spy”), Dutch spieden (“to spy”). The noun displaced native Old English sċēawere (literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "mirror." In this sense, the verb displaced Old English sċēawian, which was also the word for "to watch" and became the Modern English word show. Distant cognate vie PIE with Latin speculātor, Ancient Greek κατάσκοπος (katáskopos). Compare typologically Russian согляда́тай (sogljadátaj) (akin to гляде́ть (gljadétʹ)).

In classic literature

Synonyms

undercover agent

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