different between assassin vs spy

English

Etymology

From either French assassin or Italian assassino, from Arabic ????????????? (?as?siyy?n, “people who are faithful to the foundation [of the faith]”) and the folkloric etymology Arabic ??????????? (?ašš?š?n, “hashish users; low-lives”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??sæs?n/
• Rhymes: -æs?n

Noun

assassin (plural assassins)

1. (historical) A member of the Nizari Ismaili Muslim community of the Alamut Period
2. Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
3. Any ruthless killer.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:killer

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

assassin (third-person singular simple present assassins, present participle assassining, simple past and past participle assassined)

1. (nonstandard) To assassinate.

Translations

French

Etymology

From either Arabic ??????????? (?ašš?š?n, “hashish users”) or ????????????? (?as?siyy?n).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.sa.s??/

Noun

assassin m (plural assassins, feminine assassine)

1. An assassin or other murderer.

Adjective

assassin (feminine singular assassine, masculine plural assassins, feminine plural assassines)

1. deadly; fatal; that [[kill]s

Further reading

• “assassin” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Middle English spien, aphetic variant of earlier espien (“to espy”), from Old French espier (“to spy”), from Frankish *speh?n (“to spy”), from Proto-Germanic *speh?n? (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *spe?- (“to look”). Akin to German spähen (“to spy”), Dutch spieden (“to spy”).

The noun displaced native Old English s??awere (literally “watcher”), which was also the word for "mirror." In this sense, the verb displaced Old English s??awian, which was also the word for "to watch" and became the Modern English word show.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spa?/
• Rhymes: -a?

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).

Synonyms

• intelligencer
• Thesaurus:spy

Translations

Derived terms

• spyess (a female spy)
• 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.

2. (transitive) To spot; to catch sight of.
   • 1720, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Young Clergyman

     One in reading, skipped over all sentences where he spied a note of admiration.
3. (intransitive) To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
4. (transitive) To explore; to see; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.

Translations

Derived terms

• spy on
• spyhop

Related terms

• spyglass
• spyware

See also

• Wikipedia article on spies

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ??? (supai)
• ? Korean: ??? (seupai)

Anagrams

• PYs, SYP, YPs, pys

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja, from Proto-Germanic *sp?wan?, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pty?w- (“to spit, vomit”). Compare Swedish and Danish spy, Icelandic spýja, English spew, Dutch spuwen, German speien.

Noun

spy n (definite singular spyet) (uncountable)

1. barf (US), vomit, spew

Verb

spy (present tense spyr, simple past spydde, past participle spydd)

1. to barf (US), throw up, vomit, spew (also figurative)

Synonyms

• kaste opp

References

• “spy” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja. The noun is derived from the verb.

Verb

spy (present tense spyr, past tense spydde, past participle spydd/spytt, passive infinitive spyast, present participle spyande, imperative spy)

1. (transitive, intransitive) to vomit
2. (intransitive, about blowflies) to lay eggs

Derived terms

Noun

spy n (definite singular spyet, uncountable)

1. vomit, sick
2. (collective) eggs of a blowfly

References

• “spy” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Anagrams

• syp

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse spýja, from Proto-Germanic *sp?wan?, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pty?w- (“to spit, vomit”). Compare Norwegian and Danish spy, Icelandic spýja, English spew, Dutch spuwen, German speien.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /spy?/

Verb

spy (present spyr, preterite spydde, supine spytt, imperative spy)

1. to throw up, to vomit

Conjugation

Quotations

Synonyms

• kräkas

Related terms

• spya
• spyboll

Anagrams

• pys