canny

Meaning

Adj

1. Careful, prudent, cautious.
2. Knowing, shrewd, astute.
3. Frugal, thrifty.
4. Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable; (sometimes) funny.
5. Gentle, quiet, steady.

Adv

1. Very, considerably; quite, rather.
2. Gently, quietly; carefully, skilfully.

Synonyms

shrewd

astute

sharp

cunning

cagey

sly

cautious

skillful

tricky

foxy

crafty

artful

wily

calculating

dodgy

shifty

clever

nimble

cagy

chary

parlous

bright

intelligent

smart

chary of

ingenious

keen

knowing

mindful

neat

noncommittal

observing

offish

painstaking

politic

proficient

prudent

qualified

quiet

regardful

reserved

restrained

sharp-witted

skilled

snug

sparing

spiffy

subtile

subtle

tactful

thoughtful

thrifty

uncommunicative

undemonstrative

vulpine

wakeful

wary

watchful

pawky

precautious

sure-handed

able

slyish

accomplished

acute

adept

adroit

advertent

alert

arch

attentive

awake

brainy

careful

close

consummate

cute

deft

designing

economic

gingerly

gingery

guarded

handy

hardheaded

heedful

hot

🥵

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkæni/

Etymology

Northern English dialect, from can (“to know”) ( + -y), from Middle English can, first and third person singular of cunnen, connen (“to be able, know how to”), from Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). Compare Scots canny, English cunny, Old English cann (“knowledge, assertion”). More at can, cunning.