voyeur

noun

voy·​eur vwä-ˈyər  vȯi-ˈər 

plural voyeurs

1

a

: someone who obtains sexual gratification from observing unsuspecting individuals who are partly undressed, naked, or engaged in sexual acts

broadly : someone who habitually seeks sexual stimulation by visual means

b

: a person who commits the crime of voyeurism

2

: a prying observer who is usually seeking the sordid or the scandalous

Did you know?

What is a voyeur?

Voyeur is a fairly recent addition to English; our earliest written evidence for the word dates from the beginning of the 20th century. It comes directly from a French noun meaning, literally, “one who sees.”

Initially, voyeur referred to someone who derived sexual pleasure from watching others undress or engage in intimate acts; it was synonymous with Peeping Tom. By the middle of the 20th century, its meaning had broadened to "an unduly prying observer," particularly one interested in squalid or shocking details:

[A] good biographer is always in some sense a voyeur.–Times Literary Supplement, November 5, 1971

Is a press that pries into a presidential aspirant’s personal habits pandering to voyeurs or enlightening rightfully curious voters? –Saturday Review, February 16, 1980

Examples of voyeur in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

There’s a one-dimensional plotline involving neighbor Alan (Hugh Dennis), a creepy voyeur, and his long-suffering wife Jean (Kate Robbins), which comes close — not THAT close — to working because Dennis and Robbins are good, even if their characters are not. —Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Jan. 2025

Lynch’s career-realigning Blue Velvet, which introduced MacLachlan to audiences as amateur detective and voyeur Jeffrey Beaumont, starts with the hero’s father collapsing of a stroke while watering his lawn, the kink in the hose visualizing what happened in the man’s circulatory system. —Matt Zoller Seitz, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2025

Venus in Aquarius is more of a voyeur than an active engager. —Lisa Stardust, refinery29.com, 6 Dec. 2024

Both the police and the couple themselves start to close in on the voyeur, who is presumed to be the kidnapper. —Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 5 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

French, literally, one who sees, from Middle French, from voir to see, from Latin vidēre — more at wit

First Known Use

1900, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Medical Definition

voyeur

noun

voy·​eur vwä-ˈyər  vȯi-ˈər 

: one obtaining sexual gratification from observing unsuspecting individuals who are partly undressed, naked, or engaged in sexual acts

broadly : one who habitually seeks sexual stimulation by visual means