Espionage

How to spell espionage

9 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce espionage

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does espionage mean?

1. nounThe practice of secretly obtaining confidential information, especially about a government, company, or rival.

Espionage in a sentence

• The firm accused a former director of industrial espionage after blueprints leaked to a competitor.

• Two diplomats were expelled on charges of espionage during the height of the crisis.

Where does espionage come from?

Language of origin: French

This word came into English in the early 1700s directly from the French espionnage, a noun meaning 'the practice of spying'. The French built it on the verb espionner, 'to spy', which in turn rests on espion, 'a spy', a word France had borrowed from the Italian spione. Trace it back further and you reach an old Germanic root, spehon, meaning 'to watch closely' or 'to observe', the very same ancestor that gives English its plain word 'spy'. The French finish has left learners with the tricky ending: the soft 'zh' sound spelled -age and the unexpected single 's' followed by 'pio', which is exactly where the spelling tends to go wrong. Remembering the hidden word 'spy' sitting inside 'espionage' is the surest anchor for getting it right.

How the word is built

• espion- (spy, from French espion 'a spy')
• -age (noun suffix denoting an activity or practice)