spy
n. countablen. a person who secretly collects information about an enemy or a competitor. They often work for a government or a large company and must keep their identity hidden.
n. a person employed by a government or organization to obtain secret information about another country or a rival entity. Often used in the context of international intelligence or corporate espionage.
The spy hid the secret documents in a hollow book.
During the war, the spy lived in the enemy capital for years without being caught.
Modern intelligence gathering relies heavily on digital surveillance, yet the role of the human spy remains vital for understanding the personal motivations of foreign leaders.
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)).