cunning

adjectivenouncommon in dialogue

//ˈkʌnɪŋ//

Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

adjective

1
Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.
They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.
2
obsoleteSkillful, artful.
Esau was a cunning hunter.
a cunning workman
Tis beauty truly blent, whose red and white / Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on.
3
obsoleteWrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious.
cunning work
Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning web.
4
datedCute, appealing.
everybody gives something to the cunning little boy; his eyes are large and soft, and he wears a pointed hat, and tight breeches, and jacket
“I shan't mind that at all, I like the little house 'cause it's got a garden, and there's a cunning room with a three-cornered closet in it that I always wanted.[…]”

Etymology

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.

noun

1
Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.
2
Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit; art or magic.
Caliban: As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
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.
the cunning of the fox or hare
5
obsoleteKnowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).

Etymology

From Middle English cunning, kunnyng, partially from Old English *cunning (verbal noun), from Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”); partially from Old English cunnung (“knowledge, trial, probation, experience, contact, carnal knowledge”), from cunnian (“to search into, try, test, seek for, explore, investigate, experience, have experience of, to make trial of, know”), equivalent to con + -ing.

Forms

plural: cunnings
comparative: more cunning
superlative: most cunning

cum · Used in indicating a thing or person which has two or more…CUM · Synonym of North American Union.Cummings · A surname.

cunning · Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

Cunning · A surname.cunningham · A downhaul located at the tack of a sail, used for tightening…Cunningham · A Scottish habitational surname and clan.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.