sly

Meaning

1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
2. Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice
3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle
4. Light or delicate; slight; thin.

cunning

be clever

be sly

two faced

deceitful sneaky

on a high degree

subtile

cunning person

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/slaɪ/

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“sly, cunning”, literally “capable of hitting or striking”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, throw”). Cognate with Icelandic slægur (“crafty, sly”), Norwegian Nynorsk sløg (“sly”). Related to sleight, slay. In all likelihood, however, unrelated with Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”).