INFORMANT

informant, source

(noun) a person who supplies information

witness, witnesser, informant

(noun) someone who sees an event and reports what happened

Source: WordNet® 3.1

---

Etymology

Noun

informant (plural informants)

One who relays confidential information to someone, especially to the police; an informer.

(linguistics) A native speaker who acts as a linguistic reference for a language being studied. The informant demonstrates native pronunciation, provides grammaticality judgments regarding linguistic well-formedness, and may also explain cultural references and other important contextual information.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:informant

Source: Wiktionary

---

In*form"ant, n. Etym: [L. informans, -antis, p.pr. of informare. See Inform, v. t.]

1. One who, or that which, informs, animates, or vivifies. [Obs.] Glanvill.

2. One who imparts information or instruction.

3. One who offers an accusation; an informer. See Informer. [Obs. or R.] It was the last evidence of the kind; the informant was hanged. Burke.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

---