spy
/spaɪ/noun, verb
spy is spelled S-P-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,752nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, spy means “A person who secretly watches and examines the actions of other individuals or organizations and gathers information on them (usually to gain an…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of spy is spies.
How many letters and syllables are in spy?
| Letters | 3: S-P-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 17 times per million words; the 4,752nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is spy?
Spy appears 17 times per million words in written English, the 4,752nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce spy?
- /spaɪ/
Spy has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-spy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of spy
- spies plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- spying participle, present
- spied participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does spy mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 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).
- 2
A defensive player assigned to cover an offensive backfield player man-to-man when they are expected to engage in a running play, but the offensive player does not run with the ball immediately.
verb
- 1
To act as a spy.
During the Cold War, Russia and America would each spy on each other for recon.
- 2
To spot; to catch sight of; to espy.
I think I can spy that hot guy coming over here.
- 3
To search narrowly; to scrutinize.
- 4
To explore; to see; to view; inspect and examine secretly, as a country.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Spy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | espion, espionne , espionner |
| German | Spion, Spionin, Spitzel, Schlapphut, Schnüffler , ausspionieren |
| Portuguese | espião , espiar, espionar |
| Spanish | espía, chivato , espiar , avistar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does spy come from?
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.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).