What it means
مخبر (mokhbar) is a noun for an informant or police informer, someone who passes information about criminal activity, or about individuals, to the authorities or to a third party. The word comes from the Arabic root خ-ب-ر (kh-b-r), meaning to inform, to report, or to have knowledge of something. Related Arabic forms include خبر (khabar, news or report), and the verb خبر دادن (khabar dâdan, to inform). In Persian, مخبر has a decidedly negative or suspicious register in everyday speech. It implies betrayal or secret surveillance rather than civic reporting. A contrasting word is شاهد (shâhed), which is a neutral term for a witness who testifies openly.
How to use it
- اون پسر مخبر پلیسه، باهاش حرف نزن. (Un pesar mokhbar-e polise, bâhâsh harf nazan.) “That guy is a police informer, do not talk to him.”
- از مخبر بودن خودش خجالت نمیکشه. (Az mokhbar budan-e khodash khejâlat nemi-kashe.) “He feels no shame about being an informant.”
- دستگیری اون گروه به خاطر یه مخبر بود. (Dastgiri-ye un geruh be khâter-e ye mokhbar bud.) “The arrest of that group was because of an informant.”
- مخبرا همیشه تو محله معروفن. (Mokhbarâ hamishe tu mahalle marufen.) “Informants are always known in the neighbourhood.”
Cultural note
The figure of the مخبر carries heavy social stigma in Iranian culture. In both the Pahlavi era and the Islamic Republic period, networks of informants in workplaces, universities, and neighbourhoods were a documented feature of political control, which deepened distrust of anyone seen as reporting to the state. In street speech, calling someone مخبر is a serious accusation, roughly equivalent to calling them a snitch or a collaborator. The word also appears in formal journalism to mean correspondent or reporter, as in مخبر ویژه (mokhbar-e vizhe, special correspondent), though context makes the distinction clear.