voyeur

American  

[vwah-yur, voi-, vwa-yœr] / vwɑˈyɜr, vɔɪ-, vwaˈyœr /

noun

plural

voyeurs

1. a person who engages in voyeurism.

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voyeur British  

/ vwaɪˈɜː, vwajœr /

noun

1. a person who obtains sexual pleasure or excitement from the observation of someone undressing, having intercourse, etc

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Other Word Forms

• voyeurism noun
• voyeuristic adjective
• voyeuristically adverb

Etymology

Origin of voyeur

First recorded in 1915–20; from French, equivalent to voi(r) “to see” (from Latin vidēre; video ( def. ) ) + -eur -eur

Explanation

Make sure you close the curtains at night, just in case there’s a voyeur in the neighborhood. A voyeur is someone who likes to watch people without them knowing. The word voyeur came into English in the twentieth century from the French word voir, meaning “see.” A voyeur is someone who peeps, or spies on other people, watching them do things they probably don't want to be seen, or someone who likes to hear stories about strangers' private lives. When you spell voyeur, make sure you remember the ending is spelled “eur,” a legacy of the word’s French heritage.

Example Sentences

Horrible people acting horribly is always entertaining, to a point—the point being when the viewer recognizes he has become a voyeur.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 9, 2026

Rather, it’s a clever way for Soderbergh to make the viewer feel like a voyeur, listening in on increasingly intimate conversations that we wouldn’t otherwise be privy to.

From Salon • Jan. 24, 2025

The late Janet Malcolm memorably proclaimed that a biographer is like a “professional burglar” attempting to break into and enter a life — a busybody and voyeur masked in “an apparatus of scholarship.”

From Washington Post • Mar. 3, 2023

But I don’t want to be a voyeur either.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2022

In the wood there’s a small hole, at the back, next to the wall, about waist height, souvenir of some previous vandalism or legacy of an ancient voyeur.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood