spy

English

Etymology

Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien "to espy", from Old French espier (“to spy”) (espie "a spy"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōnan (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *spek- (“to look”). Akin to Old High German spehōn, spehhōn "to scout, look out for, spy" (German spähen "to spy"), Middle Dutch spien "to spy", Dutch bespieden "to spy on"

Pronunciation

• IPA: /spaɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Noun

spy (plural spies)

1. A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an advantage)

Translations

person who secretly watches

Afrikaans: spioen (af) Arabic: جاسوس (ar) (jasuus) m. Armenian: լրտես (hy) (lrtes) Bulgarian: шпионин (bg) (shpionin) Catalan: espia (ca) f. Chinese: Mandarin: 間諜 (cmn), 间谍 (cmn) (jiàndié) Croatian: špìjūn (hr) m., špìjūnka (hr) f., ùhoda (hr) m. Czech: vyzvědač (cs) m., špión (cs) m. Dutch: spion m., spionne f. Esperanto: spiono (eo) Estonian: spioon Finnish: vakooja (fi), vakoilija (fi) French: espion (fr) m., espionne (fr) f. German: Spion (de) m. Greek: κατάσκοπος (el) (katáskopos) m. Hebrew: מרגל (he) m. (meragel), מרגלת (he) f. (meragelet) Hindi: जासूस (hi) (jāsūs) m. Hungarian: kém (hu), spion (hu) Icelandic: njósnari (is) m. Indonesian: mata-mata (id) Italian: spia (it) f.

Japanese: 間諜 (ja) (かんちょう, kanchō), スパイ (ja) (supai) Korean: 간첩 (ko) (gancheop) (間諜 (ko)), 스파이 (ko) (seupai) Kurdish: sîxur (ku), casûs (ku), diznêr (ku), xefnêr (ku), şofar (ku), spiyon (ku) Macedonian: шпион (mk) (špíon) m. Norwegian: spion (no) m. Persian: جاسوس (fa) (jâsus) Polish: szpieg (pl) m. Portuguese: espião (pt) m. Russian: шпион (ru) (špión) m., шпионка (ru) (špiónka) f., агент (ru) (agént) m. Serbian: ухода (sr) (uhoda) m. Sotho: tlhwela (st) Spanish: espía (es) m., chivato (es) m. Swahili: majasusi (sw) Swedish: spion (sv) c. Telugu: వేగు (vEgu), గూఢచారి (gooDachaari) Thai: สายลับ (th) (săai láp) Turkish: ajan (tr), casus (tr) Ukrainian: шпигун (uk) (špyhún) m. Urdu: جاسوس (ur) (jāsūs) m. Vietnamese: gián điệp (vi) (間諜 (vi)) Volapük: (male or female) spionan (vo), (male) hispionan (vo), (female) jispionan (vo)

Derived terms

• spy ring

Verb

spy (third-person singular simple present spies, present participle spying, simple past and past participle spied)

1. (intransitive) To act as a spy.

   During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.

2. (transitive) To spot at a distance.

   I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.

Translations

to act as a spy

Afrikaans: spioeneer (af) Catalan: espiar (ca) Chinese: 暗中偵察, 暗中侦察 (ànzhōng zhānchá) Croatian: špijunírati (hr), uhòditi (hr) Dutch: spioneren (nl), bespieden (nl) Esperanto: spioni (eo) Finnish: vakoilla (fi) French: espionner (fr) German: ausspionieren (de) Greek: κατασκοπεύσει (kataskopévsi) Hungarian: kémkedik (hu) Icelandic: njósna (is) Italian: spiare (it)

Latin: speculor (la) Macedonian: шпионира (mk) (špioníra) Norwegian: spionere (no) Portuguese: espiar (pt) Russian: шпионить (ru) (špiónit’), следить (ru) (sledít’) Serbian: уходити (sr) (uhoditi) Sotho: hlwela (st) Spanish: espiar (es) Swahili: majasusi (sw) Swedish: spionera Turkish: casusluk yapmak (tr), ajanlık yapmak (tr) Volapük: spionön (vo)

to spot at a distance

Icelandic: koma auga á Italian: spiare (it) Latin: speculor (la)

Norwegian: få øye på (no) Swahili: majasusi (sw)

Derived terms

• spy on

Related terms

• spyglass
• spyware

See also

• Wikipedia article on spies

Anagrams

• SYP

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Norwegian

Noun

spy n. (definite singular spyet; uncountable)

1. (colloquial) barf, vomit

Verb

Infinitive spy

Present tense spyr

Past tense spydde

Past participle spydd

Present participle spyende

1. (colloquial) barf, throw up, vomit

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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja, from Proto-Germanic *spīwanan.

Verb

spy

1. to throw up, to vomit

Conjugation

Conjugation of spy

	Active	Passive
Infinitive	spy	—
Present tense	spyr	—
Past tense	spydde	—
Supine	spytt	—
Imperative	spy	—
Present participle	spyende
Past participle	spydd

Synonyms

• kräkas

Related terms

• spya
• spyboll