Born to sneer inwardly (3)
I believe the answer is:
nee
'born' is the definition.
('nee' is 'born' in French)
'sneer inwardly' is the wordplay.
'inwardly' means to look at the middle letters (only the letters inside the word are used).
The central letters of 'sneer' are 'NEE'.
'to' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for nee that I've seen before include "Prefix to married woman's maiden name" , "Indicating the birth name of a married woman" , "Word used to indicate family name of a married woman" , "Used to indicate a married woman's single name" , "Indicates the birth name of a married woman" .)