/-ənt; -ənt/
n
1 person who gives information 提供消息或情报的人
*The journalist did not want to reveal the identity of his informant. 那个新闻工作者不想透露消息提供人的身分.
2 (linguistics 语言) native speaker of a language who helps a scholar make an analysis of the language 发音合作人（为语言学者分析语言提供资料的说本地话的人）.

n[C]
someone who secretly gives the police, the army etc information about someone else
= informer
　One of the witnesses was a paid informant for the FBI.
technical someone who gives information about their language, social customs etc to someone who is studying them