Translation
spy
Word origin
From Italian spione and German Spion, both going back to a Germanic root meaning to watch closely. English spy and espionage come from the same source by way of Old French espier.
- Origin
- Germanic, via Italian and German
- Root
- spione
- English cognates
- spy, espionage
Examples
.
The spy hid the letter under his coat.
.
During the war every stranger seemed a spy.
.
The government sent a spy into a foreign country.
is the person; spioni is what they do, and it takes a direct object or the preposition . spionis is watching the neighbour; o is the whole business of espionage.
The root is -, all of it. That matters because the ending looks exactly like the fraction suffix that turns into , a half, and into o, a third. Anyone who has just learnt -on- starts seeing it everywhere, and is the word it catches them on. There is no spi to take a fraction of. The -on- is part of a borrowed word that happens to end that way, in the same accidental fashion as o and .
The trick for telling a real affix from a coincidence is always the same: remove it and see whether what remains is a word you can use. minus -on- is , a number you can count with. minus -on- is spi, which is nothing at all.
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spiono: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Esperanto word "spiono" (spy): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
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Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 41.