wile

Meaning

Noun

A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice

Verb

To entice or lure.

Verb

Misspelling of while (“to pass the time”).

Synonyms

trick

artifice

stratagem

ruse

guile

trickery

deception

deceit

craftiness

subterfuge

craft

cunning

allure

lure

maneuver

chicane

entice

chicanery

feint

pretence

wiliness

shenanigan

manoeuvre

perfidy

plan

play

plot

quirk

ruff

seduce

shrewdness

sleight

slyness

snare

strategem

strategy

stunt

tactics

tempt

thaumaturgy

treacherousness

trickiness

trump

twist

wheeze

trickishness

archness

artfulness

bait

beguilement

Translations

τέχνασμα

ruse

πανουργία

γοητεύω

artifice

leurre

ξεμυαλίζω

list

List

δόλος

πονηριά

εξαπατώ

κόλπο

κοροϊδεύω

Pronounced as (IPA)

/waɪl/

Etymology

Cognate with Icelandic: vél

Cognate with Dutch: wijle

In summary

From Middle English wile, wyle, from Old Northern French wile (“guile”) and Old English wīl (“wile, trick”) and wiġle (“divination”), from Proto-Germanic *wīlą (“craft, deceit”) (from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, bend”)) and Proto-Germanic *wigulą, *wihulą (“prophecy”) (from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to consecrate, hallow, make holy”)). Cognate with Icelandic vél, væl (“artifice, craft, device, fraud, trick”), Dutch wijle. Doublet of guile.