Insider
/ˌɪnˈsaɪdər/noun
A person who has special access to private information or inner circles.
Did you know?Insider is a fairly transparent compound, but its power comes from the old social magic of being “within” the circle: in English, access has always been half geography, half status.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
innan
“inside, within”
Old English
OE
sīdan
“to place, set, or position”
Middle English
ME
insiden
“to be within; to place inside”
Early Modern English
English
insider
“one who is inside or within a group or place”
Modern English
English
insider
“a person with privileged access to private information or a closed circle”