informer

English

Alternative forms

• informor (obsolete, rare)
• informour (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English enformour, from Anglo-Norman enfourmour; equivalent to inform +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: in‧form‧er

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)mə(ɹ)

Noun

informer (plural informers)

1. One who informs someone else about something.
2. A person who tells authorities about improper or illegal activity.

   Being an informer often meant living in fear.

   The police relied on an informer to catch the gang.

   He acted as an informer during the rebellion.

3. One who informs, animates, or inspires.
   • 1729, Alexander Pope, Prologue to Sophonisba (by James Thomson

     Nature, informer of the poet's art.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:informant

Translations

one who informs

• Catalan: informador (ca) m, informant (ca) m or f
• Czech: informátor (cs) m
• Finnish: tietolähde (fi)
• Galician: informante m or f
• German: Informant (de) m, Hinweisgeber (de) m, Tippgeber m, Zuträger (de) m
• Greek: πληροφοριοδότης (el) m (pliroforiodótis)

  Ancient: συκοφάντης m (sukophántēs)

• Hebrew: מלשין (malshin)
• Italian: informatore (it) m, divulgatore (it) m
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: ئاگادار (agadar)

• Kyrgyz: билмелөөчү (bilmelööcü)
• Maori: kaiwhakaatu
• Polish: informator (pl) m
• Portuguese: informante (pt) m or f, informador m
• Russian: информа́тор (ru) m (informátor), осведоми́тель (ru) m (osvedomítelʹ), осведоми́тельница (ru) f (osvedomítelʹnica)
• Spanish: informador (es) m, informadora (es) f
• Tagalog: tagahimaton, impormador, impormadora
• Welsh: amlygwr m

person who tells authorities about improper or illegal activity

• Belarusian: дано́счык m (danósčyk), дано́счыца f (danósčyca)
• Bulgarian: доно́сник (bg) m (donósnik), доно́сница f (donósnica), доно́сничка f (donósnička)
• Czech: udavač (cs) m, udavačka f
• Finnish: tietolähde (fi), ilmiantaja (fi)
• German: Denunziant (de) m, Verpfeifer m, Ausplauderer m
• Gothic: 𐍆𐌴𐍂𐌾𐌰 m (fērja)
• Greek: καταδότης (el) m (katadótis)
• Hebrew: מַלְשִׁין m (malshín), מוֹסֵר (he) m (mosér)
• Hungarian: besúgó (hu)
• Irish: brathadóir m
• Italian: informatore (it) m
• Latin: dēlātor m
• Old English: melda m
• Polish: informator (pl) m, informatorka (pl) f
• Portuguese: informante (pt) m or f, delator (pt) m
• Russian: доно́счик (ru) m (donósčik), доно́счица (ru) f (donósčica), стука́ч (ru) m (stukáč) (pejorative)
• Scottish Gaelic: brathadair m
• Spanish: informador (es) m, informadora (es) f,
• Tagalog: tagahimaton, impormador, impormadora
• Ukrainian: доно́щик (uk) m (donóščyk), доно́щиця f (donóščycja)
• Yiddish: מסור m (moser)

See also

• name names

Anagrams

• reinform, reniform

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin īnfōrmāre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

Verb

informer

1. to inform; to enlighten; to impart knowledge (upon)

   Il m'a informé de la situation présente.

   He has informed me of the present situation.

2. (reflexive) to inquire; to ask; to get information

   Je me suis informé auprès de mon avocat.

   I asked my lawyer.

   • 1943, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, chapter X, in Le petit prince [The Little Prince], New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 45:

     — Quand ça sera-t-il ? s'informa le petit prince.

     “When will that be?” inquired the little prince.

Conjugation

Conjugation of informer (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	informer
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	informant /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		informé /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	informe /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	informes /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	informe /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	informons /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɔ̃/	informez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me/	informent /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/
	imperfect	informais /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛ/	informais /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛ/	informait /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛ/	informions /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mjɔ̃/	informiez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mje/	informaient /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛ/
	past historic2	informai /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me/	informas /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma/	informa /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma/	informâmes /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mam/	informâtes /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mat/	informèrent /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɛʁ/
	future	informerai /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁe/	informeras /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁa/	informera /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁa/	informerons /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁɔ̃/	informerez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁe/	informeront /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	informerais /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁɛ/	informerais /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁɛ/	informerait /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁɛ/	informerions /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁjɔ̃/	informeriez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁje/	informeraient /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mə.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	informe /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	informes /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	informe /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	informions /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mjɔ̃/	informiez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mje/	informent /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/
	imperfect2	informasse /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mas/	informasses /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mas/	informât /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma/	informassions /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma.sjɔ̃/	informassiez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.ma.sje/	informassent /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	informe /ɛ̃.fɔʁm/	—	informons /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.mɔ̃/	informez /ɛ̃.fɔʁ.me/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• information
• former

Further reading

• “informer”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Latin

Verb

īnfōrmer

1. first-person singular present passive subjunctive of īnfōrmō

Middle English

Noun

informer

1. alternative form of enformour

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

informer

1. imperative of informere