espionage

English

Etymology

Recorded since 1793, from French espionnage, from espionner (“to spy”), from Middle French espionner (“to spy”), from espion (“spy”), from Old French espion (“spy”), from Frankish *spehō (“spy”), from Frankish *spehōn (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to spy, peek, peer”). In modern times, the French pronunciation of the s, which had fallen silent since the 13th century, was restored due to the influence of Italian spione (“spy”), and was therefore also adopted by the English. More at spy.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈɛs.pi.ə.ˌnɑːʒ/ enPR: ĕsʹ-pē-ə-näzh
Audio (UK) (file)
- (Canada) enPR: -năzh, -nizh

Noun

espionage (countable and uncountable, plural espionages)

The act or process of learning secret information through clandestine means.
- 1859, George Meredith, chapter 16, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, OCLC 213819910:
  So intolerable did Heavy Benson's espionage become, that Raynham would have grown depopulated of its womankind had not Adrian interfered, who pointed out to the Baronet what a fearful arm his butler was wielding.
- 2003 June 20, Joseph Purdy, “Totally Switched”, in Totally Spies!, season 2, episode 19, Teletoon, Marathon Media, spoken by Alexandra “Alex” (Andrea Taylor as Clover and Katie Leigh):
  What a freak show! I mean, how often do you meet a wrestling librarian?
  Yeah, about as often as you meet a high schoolgirl involved in international espionage… Okay, bad example.

Synonyms

spying

Coordinate terms

reconnaissance
undercover

Derived terms

counterespionage, counter-espionage
industrial espionage
lexpionage

Related terms

spywork

Translations

act of learning secret information through clandestine means

Afrikaans: spioenasie
Amharic: ስለላ (səläla)
Arabic: تَجَسُّس‎ m (tajassus), جَاسُوسِيَّة‎ f (jāsūsiyya)
Armenian: լրտեսություն (hy) (lrtesutʿyun)
Basque: espioitza (eu)
Bulgarian: шпионаж (bg) m (špionaž)
Catalan: espionatge (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 間諜活動／间谍活动 (zh) (jiàndié huódòng)
Czech: špionáž f
Danish: spionage c
Dutch: spionage (nl)
Esperanto: spionado
Estonian: spionaaž
Finnish: vakoilu (fi)
French: espionnage (fr) m
Galician: espionaxe f
Georgian: შპიონაჟი (šṗionaži), აგენტურა (agenṭura)
German: Spionage (de) f
Greek: κατασκοπία (el) f (kataskopía), κατασκοπεία (el) f (kataskopeía)
Hebrew: ריגול‎ (rigol)
Hindi: जासूसी (hi) (jāsūsī)
Hungarian: kémkedés (hu)
Italian: spionaggio (it) m
Japanese: スパイ行為 (supai-kōi)
Kazakh: тыңшылық (tyñşylyq)
Korean: 스파이 활동 (seupai hwaldong)
Latin: speculatio f
Maori: mahi tūtei, tūteitanga
Ngazidja Comorian: udjasusi class 11
Norwegian: spionasje m
Persian: جاسوسی‎ (fa) (jâsusi)
Polish: szpiegostwo (pl) n, wywiad (pl) m
Portuguese: espionagem (pt) f
Romanian: spionaj (ro) n
Russian: шпиона́ж (ru) m (špionáž)
Serbo-Croatian: špijunáža (sh) f
Spanish: espionaje (es) m
Swedish: spioneri (sv) n, spionage (sv) n
Tabasaran: жасусвал (žasusval)
Tagalog: pagbatyaw
Telugu: వేగు (te) (vēgu)
Thai: จารกรรม (th) (jaa-rá-gam)
Turkish: espiyonaj (tr), casusluk (tr)
Ukrainian: шпигу́нство n (špyhúnstvo), шпіона́ж m (špionáž)
Urdu: جاسوسی‎ (jāsūsī)
Yiddish: שפּיאָנאַזש‎ m (shpyonazh)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 諜報活動 (ちょうほうかつどう, chōhō katsudō)
Korean: ^{(please verify)} 간첩 (ko) (gancheop), ^{(please verify)} 간첩행위 (gancheophaeng'wi)
Latin: ^{(please verify)} speculatio

Anagrams

sea pigeon