Fink

[arzgol]

What do you say in English when your colleague spys on you? Fink?

Thank you so much.

[riquecohen]

If he's revealed to others what he has discovered about you, he's a fink

[allenman]

Fink is ancient history. Doubtful that anyone here would have a clue what you're saying unless they're from the 30's.

Let's see:
Scumbag
Traitor
D-head (very vulgar when spelled out, sorry)

Interested in seeing others' opinions.

Not a teacher -- AmE native

[arzgol]

I know the word '' fink'' is old-fashioned, but the word brown-noser is informal. Employers always have their people among personnel, to know everything about employees, even though it is not related to the work. It is around the word. So, in Farsi we say ''Antenna'', or ''eyes and ears of the boss''.

[Gillnetter]

Fink is ancient history. Doubtful that anyone here would have a clue what you're saying unless they're from the 30's.

Let's see:
Scumbag
Traitor
D-head (very vulgar when spelled out, sorry)

Interested in seeing others' opinions.

Not a teacher -- AmE native

I'm not from the '30s and I still hear the word from time-to-time. There was a modification of the term (1960s maybe) from "fink" to "ratfink."

[SoothingDave]

This word makes me think of the comic strip "Wizard of Id." The King is a fink.

Amazon.com: The King Is a Fink! (The Wizard of ID) (9780449137093): Johnny Hart, Brant Parker: Books

Outside of that, not such a common word.

[Barb_D]

For some reason, "rat fink" was a funny insult we used in our family. When you were pretending to be mad at someone, you'd call them that. I don't think I've ever heard anyone use it for real.

You could just say "rat," I guess. It's not a concept I've encountered at work.

[riquecohen]

I know the word '' fink'' is old fashion, but he word brown-noser is informal. Employers always have their people among personnel, to know everything about employees, even though it is not related to the work. It is around word. So, in Farsi we say ''Antenna'', or ''eyes and ears of the boss''.

It's not that old-fashioned.
What you say in Farsi captures the meaning. A fink is generally an informant, while a brown-nose is a sycophant

[Ouisch]

I still occasionally hear "fink" used in AmE when referring to someone who spies on you and then reports your activity. Other phrases used could be "snitch" ("Make sure you do your Web surfing when Fred is not around, he's the office snitch and will definitely narc on you.") For that matter, "narc" is also be used as a synonym for "fink": "Be careful about gossiping when Mary is around, she is such a narc. Anything she overhears goes straight to the boss."

When referring to the actions of a fink in AmE, we say that "Fred snitched on me" or "Fred ratted me out to the boss."

[Hedwig]

Another word for snitch is grass. I`ve an idea it must be more British than American, as I've only ever heard it in British films.
For some reason I like the word.