different between relay vs informant

English

Etymology 1

From Middle French relai (“reserve pack of hounds”), from relaier (“to exchange tired animals for fresh”); literally, "to leave behind", from Old French relaier (“to leave behind”), from re- + laier (“to leave”), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• (noun) IPA^(key): /??i?le?/
• (verb) IPA^(key): /?i?le?/, /??i?le?/
• Rhymes: -i?le?
• Rhymes: -e?

Noun

relay (plural relays)

1. (hunting, rare) A new set of hounds. [from 15th c.]
2. (now chiefly historical) A new set of horses kept along a specific route so that they can replace animals that are tired. [from 17th c.]
3. (by extension) A new set of anything.
4. A series of vehicles travelling in sequence. [from 18th c.]
5. (athletics) A track and field discipline where runners take turns in carrying a baton from start to finish. Most common events are 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter competitions. [from 19th c.]
6. (electronics) An electrical actuator that allows a relatively small electrical voltage or current to control a larger voltage or current. [from 19th c.]

Derived terms

• relay race

Translations

Verb

relay (third-person singular simple present relays, present participle relaying, simple past and past participle relayed)

1. (obsolete, intransitive, hunting) To release a new set of hounds. [15th-17th c.]
2. (transitive, now rare) To place (people or horses) in relays, such that one can take over from another. [from 18th c.]
3. (intransitive, now rare) To take on a new relay of horses; to change horses. [from 19th c.]
4. (transitive) To pass on or transfer (information). [from 19th c.]

Synonyms

• (to relay a message): convey

Translations

Etymology 2

re- +? lay

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??i??le?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??i?le?/
• Rhymes: -i?le?
• Homophone: re-lay

Verb

relay (third-person singular simple present relays, present participle relaying, simple past and past participle relaid)

1. Alternative spelling of re-lay

Anagrams

• Arely, Arley, Early, Layer, Leary, Raley, Rayle, early, layer, leary

English

Etymology

inform +? -ant

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?n?f??m?nt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?n?f??m?nt/

Noun

informant (plural informants)

1. One who relays confidential information to someone, especially to the police; an informer.
2. (linguistics) A native speaker who acts as a linguistic reference for a language being studied. The informant demonstrates native pronunciation, provides grammaticality judgments regarding linguistic well-formedness, and may also explain cultural references and other important contextual information.
   • 1977, A. E. Kibrik, The methodology of field investigations in linguistics

     The only material the linguist has to begin with are the informant's grammatical utterances in the target language pronounced arbitrarily in a natural or assigned communicative situation or stimulated artificially by the investigator.

   • 2003, Sergei Nirenburg, H. L. Somers, Yorick Wilks, Readings in machine translation (page 116)

     The informant learns his language by formal training and, more importantly, by constant exposure to its use. He cannot repeat to the linguist what he has never seen or heard.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:informant

Translations

See also

• name names

Catalan

Verb

informant

1. present participle of informar

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed, more probably from French or German than from English due to the word's ultimate stress.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??n.f?r?m?nt/
• Hyphenation: in?for?mant
• Rhymes: -?nt

Noun

informant m (plural informanten, diminutive informantje n)

1. informer, informant

French

Verb

informant

1. present participle of informer

Latin

Verb

?nf?rmant

1. third-person plural present active indicative of ?nf?rm?