cunning

Meaning

Adj

1. Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.
2. (obsolete) Skillful, artful.
3. (obsolete) Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious.
4. (colloquial) Cute, appealing.

Noun

1. Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
2. Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit; art or magic.
3. The disposition to employ one's skill in an artful manner; craftiness; guile; artifice; skill of being cunning, sly, conniving, or deceitful.
4. The natural wit or instincts of an animal.
5. (obsolete) Knowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).

Synonyms

sly

crafty

shrewd

wily

clever

craftiness

tricky

craft

slyness

smart

artful

guile

astute

foxy

deceitful

trick

deceit

sharp

skillful

artfulness

shifty

canny

artifice

dodgy

cautious

trickery

cagey

nimble

wiliness

devious

calculating

cleverness

skill

sneaky

cute

astuteness

wiles

ingenious

guileful

slick

ruse

resourceful

tricksy

shrewdness

foxiness

knavish

stratagem

subtle

alert

intelligence

skillfulness

cheating

cunningness

evasive

finesse

fraudulent

handiness

insidious

scheming

sleight

wile

pawky

hypocrisy

vulpine

art

🎨

cheater

deft

pretence

handy

wisdom

pretty

slippery

proficiency

deceitfulness

oily

smartness

deftness

shift

fraud

fly

✈️

resourcefulness

deceptive

dexterous

skilful

roguish

skilled

dishonest

dishonesty

insult

intelligent

intrigue

judgement

deceiver

knowing

laziness

learning

leery

lie

ludicrous

Machiavellian

malicious

mean

mestizo

mischievous

neat

nice

outlandish

parlous

plausible

plotting

polished

politic

pretentious

proficient

prudent

pushy

quirky

deadpan

rogue

cuteness

savvy

fawce

secret

㊙️

secretive

serpentine wisdom

shady

sham

crook

crazy

shining

consummate

cleaver

clandestine

ability

sly old fox

caginess

slicker

slim

brightness

bonnie

bogus

smooth

bedraggled

snide

sportive

stealthy

artistry

strategic

strategy

subterfuge

subtile

subtleness

subtlety

suitability

swindle

swindler

tactics

talent

technics

technique

thievish

treacherous

arch

almost

trickiness

adroitness

adroit

unctuous

underhand

underhanded

unreliable

wickedly

vilainous

adeptness

adept

dislike

wise

wisecrack

witty

wry

evil intent

on a high degree

practic

sly person

sure-handed

deviltry

designing

deviousness

dextrous

dinky

diplomatic

accomplished

dissimulation

disturbance

dodge

duplicity

scampish

expertise

faker

file

able

defiant

knowledge

furtive

glib

greasy

decrepit

great at

hardheadedness

hold

hot

🥵

huggermugger

impishness

deception

ingenuity

slyish

insidiousness

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkʌnɪŋ/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cunning

Inherited from Middle English: cunninde

Inherited from Old English: cunnende

Cognate with Scots: cunnand

Cognate with German: könnend

Cognate with Icelandic: kunnandi

Inherited from Old English: *cunning

Inherited from Old English: cunnung

In summary

From Middle English cunning, kunning, konnyng, alteration of earlier Middle English cunninde, kunnende, cunnand, from Old English cunnende, present participle of cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”), equivalent to con + -ing. Cognate with Scots cunnand (“cunning”), German könnend (“able to do”), Icelandic kunnandi (“cunning”). More at con, can.