verb/e.pje/
to spy on, keep an eye on, watch; to watch for
“Elle décachetait ses lettres, épiait ses démarches, et l'écoutait, à travers la cloison, donner ses consultations dans son cabinet, quand il y avait des femmes.”
Inherited from Middle French espier, from Old French espier, from Vulgar Latin *spiāre (compare Italian spiare; Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan espiar), from Frankish *spehōn, from Proto-Germanic *spehōną (“to spy”), from Proto-Indo-European *speḱ- (“to look”). Cognate with Middle Dutch spien (“to spy”), German spähen (“to peek, peer, spy”).