Editing Agent provocateur (section)

==History and etymology==
{{uncited section |date=May 2022}}
While the practice was worldwide in antiquity, modern [[undercover operation]]s were scaled up in France by [[Eugène François Vidocq]] in the early 19th century, and included the use of unlawful tactics against opponents. Later in the same century, police targets included union activists who came to fear [[Covert operation#Plainclothes law enforcement|plain-clothed policemen]] ({{lang |fr |agent de police}} in French). The French term {{lang |fr |agent provocateur}} was then [[lexical borrowing | borrowed]] as-is into English and German. In accordance with French grammar, the correct plural form of the term is {{lang |fr|agents provocateurs}}.