surveillance

English

Etymology

From French surveillance (“a watching over, overseeing, supervision”), from surveiller (“to watch, oversee”), from sur- (“over”) + veiller (“to watch”), from Middle French, from Old French veillier (“to stay awake”), from Latin vigilāre, present active infinitive of vigilō (“I am watchful”). More at vigilant.

Noun

Wikipedia surveillance (plural surveillances)

1. Close observation of an individual or group; person or persons under suspicion
2. Continuous monitoring of disease occurrence for example
3. (military, espionage) Systematic observation of places and people by visual, aural, electronic, photographic or other means.
4. (law) In criminal law, an investigation process by which police gather evidence about crimes, or suspected crime, through continued observation of persons or places.

Derived terms

• uberveillance

Related terms

• surveil
• survey

Translations

observation of individuals or groups of individuals

Chinese: Mandarin: 監測 (zh), 监测 (zh) (jiāncè), 監視 (zh), 监视 (zh) (jiānshì) French: surveillance (fr) f. Georgian: ზედამხედველობა (ka), მეთვალყურეობა (ka), დაკვირვება (ka) German: Überwachung (de) f.

Hebrew: מעקב סמוי (he) (maakav samui) m. Japanese: 監視 (ja) (かんし, kanshi), サーベイランス (ja) (sābeiransu) Russian: надзор (ru) (nadzór), наблюдение (ru) (nabljudénije) Swahili: ulinzi (sw) Swedish: övervakning (sv)

See also

• wiretapping
• shadowing
• tailing
• lookout (act)

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