stalker

American  

[staw-ker] / ˈstɔ kər /

noun

1. a person who pursues game, prey, or a person stealthily.

2. a person who harasses another person, as a former lover, a famous person, etc., in an aggressive, often threatening and illegal manner.

   Hollywood stars often have security guards to keep dangerous stalkers at bay.

---

Etymology

Origin of stalker

stalk ² (verb) + -er ¹

Explanation

You might joke about your neighborhood stalker who always seems to know where you've been and what time you get home from work every day, but it can actually be a little creepy to know that someone's watching you. A stalker can describe anyone who sneaks around, but it usually means a person who follows one specific individual obsessively. The word wasn't used this way until the early 1990s. Before that, it was mostly used interchangeably with "poacher" to mean "someone who pursues and steals game animals." The Old English word stelan lead to the English word steal, which is most likely the root of stalk.

Example Sentences

“We get a drone, we train on it…then we get a new drone, train on it, test it out,” said the 20-year-old, who learned to fly the Stalker less than a month earlier.

From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 13, 2025

But Stalker noted that Border Patrol expects an increase in attempts by migrants to enter California by boat “as we continue to lock down the border here and secure it.”

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2025

But the game was a big hit, and Stalker 2 was first announced in 2010 - with the intention to build on the original's survival gameplay style.

From BBC • Oct. 3, 2024

Stalker 2 is now due to come out in November, but a documentary about the making of the game was released this week.

From BBC • Oct. 3, 2024

“Tell Lieutenant Stalker he may go ahead, as we were steering, full speed,” he said.

From The Dust of Conflict by Bindloss, Harold