private eye

English

Etymology

From private investigator and its abbreviation P.I., through the homophonic term eye in place of "I", and the used of eye as a reference to survellience

Noun

private eye (plural private eyes)

1. (idiomatic) A private personal detective, employed to gather information about someone.

Synonyms

• private investigator
• PI

Translations

A private personal detective

• Czech: soukromé očko (cs) n, soukromý detektiv (cs) m

• Finnish: yksityisetsivä (fi)
• German: Privatdetektiv (de) m, Schnüffler (de) m