The term ,,Akhbari” ( أخباري ) referred to here first starts with the plural of the word ,,Khabar” ( خبر ), which is ,,Akhbar” ( أخبار ), which means ,,news”, ,,reports”, ,,narrations” or ,,traditions” and then ends on the suffix ,,Ya” ( ي ), which indicates to ,,Akhbar” ( أخبار ), thus adressing a person who is ,,in connection with the Akhbar.”

Muhammad Al-Hurr Al-Amili writes:

ومن العجب دعواه أن صاحب الفوائد المدنية رئيس الأخباريين وكيف يقدر على إثبات هذه الدعوى مع أن رئيس الأخباريين هو النبي صلى الله عليه وآله ثم الأئمة عليهم السلام لأنهم ما كانوا يعملون بالإجتهاد وإنما كانوا يعملون في الأحكام بالأخبار قطعا ثم خواص أصحابهم ثم باقي شيعتهم في زمانهم مدة ثلثمأة وخمسين سنة وفي زمان الغيبة إلى تمام سبعمأة سنة

,,It is astonishing, how one claims, that Muhammad Amin Al-Istarabadi is the head of the traditionalists (Akhbariyyah). How should one be able to believe this claim, whereas the head of the traditionalists (Akhbariyyah) is the Prophet (s.) and hereupon the Imams (a.), for they did not go according to their own effort (Ijtihad), but they went without a doubt judgmentally according to the traditions (Akhbar). Hereupon did their close companions and hereupon the rest of their contemporary followers in a duration of 350 years as well as in the period of concealment until the completion of 700 years.” [Al-Fawa’id-ut-Tusiyyah, page 446]