eavesdropping

English

Etymology

From eavesdrop +‎ -ing.

Noun

eavesdropping (countable and uncountable, plural eavesdroppings)

1. verbal noun of eavesdrop:
   1. Listening secretly to the private conversations of others.
      • 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 7, in Well Tackled!, →OL:

        The detective kept them in view. He made his way casually along the inside of the shelter until he reached an open scuttle close to where the two men were standing talking. Eavesdropping was not a thing Larard would have practised from choice, but there were times when, in the public interest, he had to do it, and this was one of them.

   2. (telecommunications) The interception of electronic communication.
   3. (zoology) The act of one organism listening for another's calls, so as to exploit them.

Derived terms

• anti-eavesdropping

 

Translations

listening secretly to the private conversations of others

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 竊聽／窃听 (zh) (qiètīng)

• Finnish: salakuuntelu (fi)
• German: Lauschen n, Abhören (de) n
• Greek: κρυφάκουσμα (el) n (kryfákousma), λαθρακρόαση f (lathrakróasi), ωτακουστία f (otakoustía)
• Hungarian: hallgatózás (hu)
• Italian: origliamento m, l'origliare m, ascolto di nascosto m
• Japanese: 盗聴 (ja) (とうちょう, tōchō)
• Korean: 엿듣다 (yeotdeutda) (verb)
• Persian: استراق سمع (fa) (esterâq-e sam')
• Polish: podsłuchiwanie (pl) n, podsłuchanie (pl) n
• Romanian: trage cu urechea
• Russian: подслу́шивание (ru) n (podslúšivanije)
• Scottish Gaelic: farchluais
• Serbo-Croatian: prisluškivanje (sh) n, прислушкивање n
• Swedish: tjuvlyssning c
• Ukrainian: підслухо́вування n (pidsluxóvuvannja), підслу́хування n (pidslúxuvannja), прослухо́вування n (prosluxóvuvannja)

interception of electronic communication

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 竊聽／窃听 (zh) (qiètīng)

• Finnish: salakuuntelu (fi)
• French: écoute clandestine f
• German: Abhören (de) n
• Italian: intercettazione telefonica f, intercettazione comuncazioni f
• Japanese: 盗聴 (ja) (とうちょう, tōchō)
• Korean: 도청(盜聽) (ko) (docheong)
• Persian: استراق سمع (fa) (esterâq-e sam')
• Polish: podsłuchiwanie (pl) n, podsłuch (pl) m
• Romanian: interceptare (ro)
• Russian: подслу́шивание (ru) n (podslúšivanije), перехва́т (ru) m (perexvát), прослу́шка (ru) f (proslúška) (colloquial)
• Serbo-Croatian: prisluškivanje (sh) n, прислушкивање n
• Swedish: avlyssning (sv) c

Verb

eavesdropping

1. present participle and gerund of eavesdrop

Further reading

• eavesdropping on Wikipedia.Wikipedia