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”).

Pronounced as (IPA)

/waɪl/

Etymology

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.