espía

See also: espia, espiá, espià, and espiã

Galician

Etymology 1

From Gothic *𐍃𐍀𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌰 (*spaiha), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”) (compare Anglo-Norman espie, French espion, Italian spia, , English spy, German spähen (“to peek, spy”) and Latin speciō (“I look, watch”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [esˈpiɐ]

Noun

espía m or f by sense (plural espías)

1. spy
   • 1810, José Fernandez y Neira, Proezas de Galicia:

     cando neste estado chegou unha espía nosa (que nunca parecera) decendo que viña Sul de Portugal con doce mil homes

     when, in this stance, a spy of us arrived —didn't look as one— saying that Marshal General Soult was coming from Portugal with twelve thousand men

Derived terms

• espiar

Related terms

• espionaxe

Etymology 2

Noun

espía f (plural espías)

1. (regional) Alternative form of espiña

Etymology 3

Verb

espía

1. inflection of espiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative
2. first/third-person singular imperfect indicative of espir

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “espía”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “espía”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “espía”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /esˈpia/ [esˈpi.a]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ia
• Syllabification: es‧pí‧a

Etymology 1

From Old Spanish espia, from Gothic *𐍃𐍀𐌰𐌹𐌷𐌰 (*spaiha), from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to see, look”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”) (compare Anglo-Norman espie, French espion, Italian spia, English spy, German spähen (“to peek, spy”) and Latin speciō (“to look, watch”)).

Noun

espía m or f by sense (plural espías)

1. spy

Derived terms

• espiar
• programa espía

 

Related terms

• espionaje

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

espía

1. inflection of espiar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “espía”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014