Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Cunning |
CunningAdjective1. Attractive especially by means of smallness or prettiness or quaintness; "a cute kid with pigtails"; "a cute little apartment"; "cunning kittens"; "a cunning baby". 2. Marked by skill in deception; "cunning men often pass for wise"; "deep political machinations"; "a foxy scheme"; "a slick evasive answer"; "sly as a fox"; "tricky Dick"; "a wily old attorney". 3. Showing inventiveness and skill; "a clever gadget"; "the cunning maneuvers leading to his success""; "an ingenious solution to the problem". Noun1. Shrewdness in deception; "as cunning as a fox". 2. Shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception. 3. Drafty artfulness (especially in deception). Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "cunning" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Satire | CUNNING, n. The faculty that distinguishes a weak animal or person from a strong one. It brings its possessor much mental satisfaction and great material adversity. An Italian proverb says: "The furrier gets the skins of more foxes than asses.". Source: Devil's Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of being cunning, denotes you will assume happy cheerfulness to retain the friendship of prosperous and gay people. If you are associating with cunning people, it warns you that deceit is being practised upon you in order to use your means for their own advancement. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Multilingual Slang | Spanish (zorrero ). (references) |
Tips from 1870 | Usage: Cunning. This word is much used by young ladies in speaking of what is small, or dainty, or pleasing, as "A cunning little bonnet," "A cunning little watch," etc. While the word properly embodies the idea of skill or dexterity on the part of the workman, and while the appreciation of such skill, in speaking of the artist or artisan, might be expressed by cunning, it is better not to use the word in referring to the product of the workmanship. Source: Slips of Speech. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: CunningSynonyms: clever (adj), crafty (adj), cute (adj), dodgy (adj), foxy (adj), guileful (adj), ingenious (adj), knavish (adj), slick (adj), sly (adj), tricksy (adj), tricky (adj), wily (adj), craft (n), craftiness (n), foxiness (n), guile (n), slyness (n), wiliness (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Cunning | Verb: be cunning; Adjective: have cut one's eyeteeth; contrive; (plan); live by one's wits; maneuver; intrigue, gerrymander, finesse, double, temporize, stoop to conquer, reculer pour mieux sauter, circumvent, steal a march upon; overreach; throw off one's guard; surprise; snatch a verdict; waylay, undermine, introduce the thin end of the wedge; play a deep game, play tricks with; ambiguas in vulgum spargere voces; flatter, make things pleasant; have an ax to grind. |
Noun: cunning, craft; cunningness, craftiness; Adjective: subtlety, artificiality; maneuvering; Verb: temporization; circumvention. | |
Adjective: cunning, crafty, artful; skillful; subtle, feline, vulpine; cunning as a fox, cunning as a serpent; deep, deep laid; profound; designing, contriving; intriguing;Verb: strategic, diplomatic, politic, Machiavelian, timeserving; artificial; tricky, tricksy; wily, sly, slim, insidious, stealthy; underhand; (hidden); subdolous; deceitful; slippery as an eel, evasive; crooked; arch, pawky, shrewd, acute; sharp, sharp as a tack, sharp as a needle; canny, astute, leery, knowing, up to snuff, too clever by half, not to be caught with chaff. | |
Deception | Adjective: deceived; Verb: deceiving; cunning; prestigious, prestigiatory; deceptive, deceptious; deceitful, covinous; delusive, delusory; illusive, illusory; elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus. |
Intelligence Wisdom | Noun: intelligence, capacity, comprehension, understanding; cuteness, sabe , savvy ; intellect; nous, parts, sagacity, mother wit, wit, esprit, gumption, quick parts, grasp of intellect; acuteness; Adjective: acumen, subtlety, penetration, perspicacy, perspicacity; discernment, due sense of, good judgment; discrimination; cunning; refinement; (taste). |
Predetermination | Well-laid, well-devised, well-weighed; maturely considered; cunning. |
Proficient | Nice hand, good hand, clean hand; practiced hand, experienced eye, experienced hand; marksman; good shot, dead shot, crack shot; ropedancer, funambulist, acrobat; cunning man; conjuror; (deceiver); wizard. |
Cunning blade, sharp blade, sharp fellow; jobber; cracksman; (thief); politician, tactician, strategist. | |
Skill | Look after the main chance; cut one's coat according to one's cloth; live by one's wits; exercise one's discretion, feather the oar, sail near the wind; stoop to conquer; (cunning); play one's cards well, play one's best card; hit the right nail on the head, put the saddle on the right horse. |
Clever, cute, able, ingenious, felicitous, gifted, talented, endowed; inventive; shrewd, sharp, on the ball; (intelligent); cunning; alive to, up to snuff, not to be caught with chaff; discreet. | |
Sorcerer | Warlock, charmer, exorcist, mage; cunning man, medicine man; Shaman, figure flinger, ecstatica; medium, clairvoyant, fortune teller; mesmerist; deus ex machina; soothsayer. |
Unskillfulness | Stultify oneself, make a fool of oneself, commit oneself; act foolishly; play the fool; put oneself out of court; lose control, lose control of oneself, lose one's head, lose one's cunning. |
Phrase: one's fingers being all thumbs; the right hand forgets its cunning; il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau; incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim; out of the frying pan into the fire; non omnia possumus omnes. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Cunning |
| English words defined with "cunning": artful, artless, Astucious ♦ Callid, Cannei, Circumventor, clever, Colubrine, Craftless, Craftsmaster, Cunningness, cute ♦ deep, devilish, diabolic, diabolical ♦ eluding, elusion ♦ fast one, Foxery, Foxlike ♦ Hermes ♦ Ingeniosity, ingenious ♦ Knacky ♦ Litherly, Loopie ♦ Machiavelian, mephistophelean, mephistophelian ♦ Outcrafty, Overcunning, Overknowing ♦ pawky ♦ Quaintise ♦ Simple obligation, Sleightful, slip, Sly goose, Snod, Subdolous, Subtile, Subtilty ♦ To wait on, trick ♦ Vafrous, Versute, Vulpinism ♦ Water fox. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "cunning": Blaney, Bombastus ♦ Charing Cross, Cunning Man, CUNNING SHAVER, Cute ♦ Gonin ♦ Jeremy Twitcher ♦ Machiavellism, Mouse Tower ♦ Panurge, Plowden ♦ Quilp ♦ SLY BOOTS. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "cunning": Vulpinism. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | You always were a cunning linguist, James (Tomorrow Never Dies; writing credit: Bruce Feirstein) Your ruse; your cunning attempt to trick me. (Clerks.; writing credit: Kevin Smith) We are wise and cunning. (Freakazoid!; writing credit: Alan Burnett; Paul Dini) Well, I'm a sort of hands-off, eyes-on, overviewing, non-participatory, sort of hands-off I'll get back to you on this cunning bitch (Drop the Dead Donkey; writing credit: Andy Hamilton; Guy Jenkin) Three devices of such lethal cunning. (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; writing credit: Mario Van Peebles) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Broncho Billy's Cunning (1914) Dalziel and Pascoe: Cunning Old Fox (2000) Great Arias: The Cunning Little Vixen (1995) Put on by Cunning (1990) A Matter of Cunning (1983) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Alexander Pope | Many people are capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing. |
Pierre Charron | The easiest way to be cheated is to believe yourself to be more cunning than others. |
Samuel Johnson | That observation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequently to make men cunning than good. |
William Blake | The weak in courage is strong in cunning. |
William Ewart Gladstone | No more cunning plot was ever devised against the intelligence, the freedom, the happiness, and the virtue of mankind, than Catholicism. |
William Hazlitt | Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects, and discovering the weaknesses of others. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Hardly had he had time to take a few steps in the hall, when the door opened and his tawny and cunning face again appeared |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | So cunning and so young is wonderful |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | For they are cunning, malicious, treacherous, and revengeful |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Cunning" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 58.36% of the time. "Cunning" is used about 281 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 58.36% | 164 | 24,408 |
| Noun (singular) | 40.57% | 114 | 30,294 |
| Noun (proper) | 1.07% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 281 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "cunning" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Cunning | Last name | 200 | 30,566 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "cunning": be cunning ♦ cunning devil ♦ cunning fellow ♦ cunning man ♦ lose one's cunning ♦ malicious cunning ♦ the right hand forgets its cunning ♦ use cunning ♦ very cunning. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
cunning | 27 |
the cunning linguist | 22 |
the cunning man | 21 |
cunning stunt | 12 |
metallica cunning stunt | 7 |
cunning dental | 5 |
cunning dental group | 2 |
cunning little vixen | 2 |
cunning wish | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "cunning"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | slim (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Albanian | tërheqës (absorbing, absorptive, adorable, alluring, appealing, attractable, attractive, catchy, charismatic, comely, cute, drawer, dreamy, engaging, engrossing, enticing, fetching, interesting, inviting, jolly, likable, likeable, nice, personable, pleasing, pretty, showy, sightly, winsome), shkathtësi (adroitness, agility, cleverness, craftiness, deftness, dexterity, facility, jugglery, legerity, lubricity, refractoriness, resourcefulness, sagacity, skill, smartness), mençur (clever, sly, smart), i shkathët (adroit, agile, artful, brisk, catlike, clever, deft, dexterous, dextrous, facile, feat, habile, knacky, light-handed, lightsome, lissom, lissome, lithe, lithesome, loose-limbed, lubricous, natty, neat, neat-handed, nimble, quick-witted, ready, resourceful, shifty, skilful, skillful, slick, smart, spry, supple, swift-handed, tactical, vivacious), finok (astute, cagey, crafty, politic, sharp, smart, wily), dredharak (dodger, guileful, shifty, slippery, slyboots, tricky), dinake (clever, sly, smart), dinakëri (artfulness, craftiness, deception, deviousness, mischief, shrewdness, slyness, trickery, wile, wiliness), dinak (argute, artful, canny, crafty, daedalian, devious, furtive, leery, pawky, sleeky, sly, wily), dhelparak (foxy, sleeky, sly, slyboots), dhelpëri (mischief, slyness). (various references) | |
Arabic | كائد (crafty, sly, wily), مكر (archness, artfulness, artifice, brown, craft, craftiness, deceit, deception, double dealing, feint, fish, foxiness, furtiveness, guile, ploy, roguery, ruse, sham, slyness, trick, wiliness), ماكر (artful, crafty, deceitful, deep, designing, disingenuous, feline, foxlike, foxy, furtive, guileful, malicious, pawky, politic, scheming, sharper, slick, slim, sly, smart, subtle, trick, vulpine, wily), وسيم (bonny, comeliness, comely, dainty, dapper, encore, fair, good looking, goodly, handsome, pretty), شاطر (bed, participate, share out, sly, smart), دهاء (artfulness, craft, fineness, finesse, guile, malignity, maneuver, manoeuvre, ploy, resource, sagacity, sharpness, slyness, wit), بارع (able, accomplished, adroit, artful, bright, brilliant, capable, clever, crafty, dexterous, dextrous, educated, fancy, fiend, foxy, handsome, handy, ingenious, intelligent, masterful, masterly, neat, nice, pretty, skilful, skilled, skillful, smart, subtle, superior, sweet, very beautiful, witty, workmanlike, workmanly), براعة (address, artfulness, artifice, cleverness, craft, craftiness, dexterity, facility, finesse, hand, ingeniousness, ingenuity, knack, know how, mastery, proficiency, science, skill, skillfulness, sleight of hand, tact, trick, workmanship). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сръчен (able, adroit, agile, crafty, deft, dexterous, dextrous, feat, handy, ingenious, knacky, knowing, light-handed, neat-handed, practised, pretty, skilful, skillful, smart, two-handed), хитър (acute, arch, artful, calculating, catty, clever, crafty, cute, deep, designing, disingenuous, dodgy, foxy, guileful, insidious, knowing, leery, long-headed, parlous, patent, pawky, politic, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sleek, slim, sly, smart, supple, wary, wide, wily, wordly-wise), знаменит (celebrated, famous, glorious, gone, great, illustrious, inconceivable, lustrous, prominent, proud, reputed, rousing, terrific), изкусен (adroit, clever, daedal, expert, light fingered, masterful, mean, neat, proficient, scientific, sharp, skilful, skilled, skillful, slick, subtle, technic, technical, tricksy, versed, workmanlike). (various references) | |
Chinese | 狡猾 (crafty, sly). (various references) | |
Czech | chytrost (brightness, cleverness, craft, policy, shrewdness), chytráctví, zchytralost (slickness), rafinovanost (artifice, refinement, smartness, sophistication), rafinovaný (astute, crafty, refined, sneaky, sophisticated, subtle, wily), prohnanost (deviousness), prohnaný (arrant, cannie, canny, devious, dodgy, foxy), mazaný (artful, cannie, canny, crafty, nifty, sharp, slick, sly), lstivý (crafty, deceitful, designing, leery, politic, subtle, tricky, underhand, wily), dovednost (accomplishment, art, craft, facility, finesse, knack, proficiency, science, skill), šikovný (astute, cute, deft, dexterous, handy, ingenious, natty, nifty, skilled). (various references) | |
Dutch | slim (clever, difficult, hard, inconvenient, sly, smart), listig (clever, sly, smart), gewiekst (clever, sly, smart), doortrapt (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Esperanto | ruzeco (slyness, subtlety), ruza (clever, sly, smart), malico (craft, craftiness, guile). (various references) | |
Faeroese | snildur (clever, sly, smart), sniðfundigur (acute, astute, clever, shrewd, sly, smart), óndskapur (craft, craftiness, guile). (various references) | |
Farsi | مکار (Pawky), ماهر (Adept, Adroit, Deft, Dexterous, Dextrous, Expert, Great, Handy, Industrious, Jimmy, Natty, Pert, Proficient, Skillful, Slick, Understanding, Workmanlike), حیله گری , حیله باز (Gyp), زیرکی (Agility, Brilliance, Cogency, Intelligence, Perspicacity, Sagacity, Subtlety), زیرک (Acute, Adroit, Agile, Alert, Astute, Brilliant, Cagey, Canny, Clever, Gash, Keen, Perspicacious, Sagacious, Sharp, Shrewd, Smart, Subtle, Uncanny). (various references) | |
Finnish | viekas (clever, crafty, shrewd, sly, smart). (various references) | |
French | rusé, malin (cute). (various references) | |
Frisian | mûklist (craft, craftiness, guile, snare), liep (clever, sly, smart), gewykst (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
German | schlau (artful, astute, brightly, canny, clever, cleverly, crafty, cunningly, cute, foxy, leery, neat, neatly, nifty, sharp, shifty, shrewd, shrewdly, slily, sly, slyly, smart, smartly, sneaky, vulpine, vulpinely, wily, wise), listig (artful, clever, crafty, cunningly, foxy, guileful, sly, smart, vulpine, wily), arglistig (clever, crafty, fraudulent, guileful, guilefully, malicious, maliciously, mischievous, nasty, sly, smart, vicious). (various references) | |
Greek | καπάτσος (shrewd), μαγκιά, πανούργοσ (arch, artful, astute, canny, crafty, designing, parlous, pawky, sharp, shrewd, sly, slyish, subtile, subtle, vulpine, wily), πανουργία (archness, artfulness, craft, craftiness, cunningness, guile, ruse, shrewdness, slyness, trickishness, wile, wiliness), πονηρόσ (canny, foxy, sly, tricky), πονηρός (artful, sly, sneaky, tricky), πονηριά (craft, guile, malice, slyness), πολυμήχανοσ (ingenious, resourceful), εξυπνάδα (brightness, caginess, cleverness, cunningness, cuteness, hardheadedness, ingenuity, intelligence, shrewdness, smartness, wisecrack, wit), επιτηδειότησ (deftness, handiness, skill, skillfulness, sleight), επιτηδειότητα (deftness, dexterity, handiness, skill, skillfulness, sleight, suitability), επιτήδειοσ (clever, crafty, deft, dexterous, dextrous, great at, handy, shrewd, skilful, skillful, slick, slicker), διαβολιά (deviltry, impishness). (various references) | |
Hawaiian | mençur (clever, sly, smart), dinake (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Hebrew | תחבל ות (inventiveness, tactics, wangle, wiliness), שועלי (foxy, vulpecular, vulpine, wily), שועל, ערמומיות (archness, artfulness, foxiness, slyness, wiliness), ערמומי (arch, artful, calculating, canny, catchy, crafty, devious, foxy, insidious, pawky, shifty, slicker, sly, underhand, wily), ערמ" (craftiness, guile, machination, oodle, prudence, shrewdness, wile, wisdom, wit), כלוליות (deceit, trickery). (various references) | |
Hungarian | ravaszság (acuity, acuteness, artifice, astuteness, canniness, craftiness, cuteness, disingenuousness, finesse, foxiness, guile, knowingness, shrewdness, slyness, wile, wiliness), ravasz (acute, artful, astute, be cunning, cagey, cagy, calculating, canny, catchy, colubrine, crafted, crafty, cute, deep, drafty, draughty, elusive, foxy, gimmicky, guileful, insidious, knowing, leery, pawky, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, to know how many beans make five, trappy, tricksy, tricky, trigger, vulpine, wily), jártas (artful, expert, handy, practiced, practised, proficient, versed), dörzsölt (coony, hip, slick), aranyos (cute, ducky, nice, sweet). (various references) | |
Indonesian | cerdik (artful, astute, canny, sharp, sharp-eyed, smart, tricky), kelicikan (artifice, cageiness, ruse), kecerdikan (chicanery, cleverness, intelligence), akal (intellect, intelligence, mind, tactics, trickiness). (various references) | |
Italian | scaltro (astute, shrewd, sly), scaltrezza (astuteness, shrewdness, slyness, smartness), malizioso (arch, catty, malicious, maliciously, mischievous, puckish, wicked, wily), malizia (archness, malice, mischief, trick), ingegnoso (clever, ingenious, patent), furbo (artful, clever, crafty, foxy, shrewd, sly, smart, smartly, tricky), astuzia (artfulness, astuteness, guile, leeriness, ruse, sharpness, shrewdness, slyness, slynesses, stratagem, trick, wangling, wile, wiliness), astuto (arch, artful, astute, cagey, canny, crafty, leery, shrewd, slick, sly, subtle, wily), accorto (downy, shrewd), abilit (ability, accomplishment, adeptness, adroitness, artifice, capability, capacity, cleverness, craft, expertise, expertness, ingenuity, knack, know how, mastership, mastery, proficiency, prowess, skilfulness, skill, skillfulness, sleight), abile (able, adept, adroit, artful, capable, clever, deft, dexterous, dextrous, efficient, expert, facile, fit, handy, knowing, masterful, masterly, proficient, skilful, skillful). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 老獪 (crafty), 食えない (crafty, shrewd, smart), 狡知 (craft), 狡智 (craft), 狡い (sly), 抜け目ない (astute, shrewd), 悪賢い (crafty, sly, wily), 悪知恵 (craft, guile, serpentine wisdom), 横着 (dishonesty, laziness), 小賢しい (clever, crafty, pretentious, shrewd), 奸知 (craft, wiles), カンジダ膣炎 (border, Cambodia, Cambrian, campaign, camphor, candidal vaginitis, cantabile, cantaloupe, cantata, canvas, canzone, cedilla, cheat, comma, company, company economist, company magazine, company paper, company union, conversation, country, country and western, country club, country music, country risk, country wear, fund raising, Kant, school, torch, vaginal yeast infection). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | おうちゃく (dishonesty, laziness), ずるい (sly), くえない (crafty, shrewd, smart), ぬけめない (astute, shrewd), か"ち (business, cold region, complete recovery, concern, craft, craftiness, direct administration by the government, fallow ground, life of leisurely retirement, perception, quiet place, sinecure, undemanding job, vacant land, wiles), "ざかしい (clever, crafty, pretentious, shrewd), "うち (arable land, arrest, back-end, cleverness, confinement, craft, detailed, detention, elaborate, exquisite, heights, high ground, plateau, skill, slow and elaborate, well-known), ろうかい (crafty), わるがし"い (crafty, sly, wily), わるぢえ (craft, guile, serpentine wisdom), わるじえ (craft, guile, serpentine wisdom), カンニング (cheat). (various references) | |
Korean | 교활한. (various references) | |
Manx | cluicys (archness), cluicagh (prankish). (various references) | |
Norwegian | utspekulert. (various references) | |
Papiamen | djispou (clever, sly, smart), bispou (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | unningcay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | astuto (acute, adroit, arch, artful, astucious, astute, canny, clearheaded, clever, crafty, designing, guileful, jesuitic, jesuitical, leery, longheaded, machiavellian, perspicacious, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sly, smart, sophisticated, subtil, subtile, subtle, tricksy, tricky, vulpine, wily), ardiloso (artful, astute, captious, clever, elusive, guileful, leery, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Romanian | falsitate (artfulness, deceitfulness, depth, double dealing, duplicity, fallacy, falsehood, falseness, falsity, hollowness, insincerity, mendacity, untruth), abil (adroit, apt, artful, artistic, artistical, astute, clean, clever, competent, crafty, deep, deft, dexterous, fit, handy, industrious, knowing, natty, qualified, ready, resourceful, sharp, shifty, skilful, skilfully, skilled, skillful, skillfully, sly, smart, subtle, swift-handed, versatile), abilitate (ability, address, adroitness, aptness, art, cleverness, competence, craft, deftness, finesse, genius, knack, resourcefulness, skill, talent), şiret (arch, artful, canny, cord, crafty, fox-like, gimp, guileful, lace, pawkily, pawky, sharp, shifty, sly, slyboots, slyly, string, subtle, tricky, wily), şiretenie (artfulness, artifice, craft, craftiness, finesse, guile, pawkiness, slyness), şmecher (acute, arch, artful, astute, canny, catchy, clever, crafty, cute, deep, dodger, downy, leery, sharp, shaver, shifty, slick, slippery, sly, slyboots, wise guy), şmecherie (art, artfulness, artifice, chouse, contrivance, craft, depth, do, dodge, fetch, fiddle, sell, slyness, swindle, trickery), înşelãtorie (deception, delusion, do, dodgery, double dealing, fob, fraud, fraudulence, fraudulency, guile, guilefulness, hanky panky, hocus pocus, humbug, imposition, imposture, racket, ramp, take in), dibãcie (adroitness, artifice, cleverness, dexterity, management, prowess, skilfulness, sleight, tactics), vulpesc (fox-like, foxy), isteţ (adroit, clever, cute, fast, forward, mercurial, natty, perspicacious, quick-witted, sharp, sharp-sighted, smart, spirited), isteţime (adroitness, cleverness, cuteness, quickness, sharpness, smartness), meşteşug (art, artifice, craft, craftsmanship, handicraft, mystery, skill, talent, trade, workmanship), nãzdrãvãnie (roguery), subţire (choice, delicate, filmy, fine, fine-drawn, flimsy, hour-glass, jejune, papery, reedy, refined, shrewd, shrill, skinny, slender, slight, slim, sly, small, spidery, squeamish, stalky, subtle, tall, tenuous, thin, thinly, weak, wiry), viclean (arch, artful, astute, cagey, catlike, catty, crafty, cute, deceitful, downy, foxy, guileful, leery, pawky, quick-witted, shifty, sly, slyly, subtle, wily), viclenie (archness, artfulness, astuteness, catch, contrivance, craft, devilry, finesse, fraud, guile, ruse, shift, subtlety, vicleim, wile), deştept (able, active, awake, brainy, bright, canny, clever man, cute, intelligent, patent, wise man). (various references) | |
Russian | хитрый (artful, astute, cagey, cattish, catty, crafty, disingenuous, insidious, leery, pawky, rat-face, serpentine, sleeky, sly, tricky, vulpine, wily), хитрость хитрый, милый (cute, darling, dear, good, honey, likable, likeable, lovable, lovely, nice, pleasant), ловкий (adept, adroit, artful, clean, crafty, deft, dexterous, dextrous, dodgy, feat, habile, handy, knacky, knowing, light fingered, light-handed, natty, neat, neat-handed, politic, sailorly, skilful, skillful, slick, swift-handed, tactical, tricky), привлекательный (alluring, appealing, attractive, beguiling, catching, cuddly, dinky, engaging, enticing, fetching, likable, likeable, lovable, lovely, nice-looking, pretty, quaint, snazzy, well-favoured, well-looking, winsome). (various references) | |
Scottish | carachd (movement, quirkiness, wiliness, wrestling), starach, seòltachd (craftiness, ingenuity, wiliness), lùrdan, ìnnleachdach (inventive). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | veština (ability, art, attainment, cleverness, craft, excellence, facility, knack, know how, masterliness, skill, subtlety, technique, wizardry, workmanship), vešt (able, accomplished, adept, adroit, artful, clever, daedal, deft, dexterous, habile, handy, knacky, knowing, proficient, sciential, skilled, skillful, slick, subtle, tall), promišljen (deliberate, measured, notable, reasoned, ruminated, ruminative, studied, thought-out), prepreden (artful, cagey, cagy, guileful, politic, sharp, shrewd, slick, sly, smart, subtle, tricksy, tricky, vulpine), podmuklost (perfidy, trickiness), lukavost (artfulness, astuteness, foxiness, shrewdness, subtlety), lukav (arch, artful, astute, cagey, cagy, canny, captious, crafty, designing, insidious, leery, perfidious, shrewd, sleeky, sly, tricky, vulpine, wily). (various references) | |
Spanish | astucia (archness, artfulness, astuteness, cleverness, craft, craftiness, flirtation, foxiness, guile, overreach, pawkiness, shiftiness, shrewdness, slyness, snare, subtlety, trickery, wiliness, worldly wisdom). (various references) | |
Sranan | koni (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Swahili | -erevu (clever, sly, smart), erevu (clever, sly, smart). (various references) | |
Swedish | slug (artful, astute, cagey, canny, clever, crafty, designing, foxy, knowing, leery, sharp, shifty, shrewd, sly, smart, tricky, wily), knepig (catchy, clever, dodgy, hairy, knotty, sly, smart, ticklish, tricky), illmarig (clever, sly, smart), underfundig, listig (artful, clever, crafty, deep, dodgy, sharp, shifty, sly, tricky, vulpine, wily), list (art, artifice, baguette, edging, finesse, guile, lath, ledge, ruse, shift, trick, wile). (various references) | |
Turkish | kaşarlanmış (double-dyed, experienced, hackneyed, hard boiled, hardened, sophisticated), açikgöz (clever, clever person, sly, smart), akili (clever, sly, smart), şeytan (adversary, arch fiend, artful, cloven foot, cloven hoof, crafty, daemon, demon, devil, fiend, old harry, old nick, prince of darkness, sly, the arch-enemy, the devil, the evil one, the old dragon, the old enemy, the tempter, wily), şeytanlık (art, arts, craftiness, devilment, devilry, diabolism, fiendishness, mischief, prank, slyness, wiliness), şirin (cute, debonair, debonaire, fair, lovely, pleasant, sonsy, winsome), açıkgöz (alert, astute, canny, fly, heady, hip, knowing, leery, nimble, open-eyed, sharp, shrewd, smart, spry, up and coming, vigilant, wide awake), hinlik (artfulness, guile, wiliness), zekí (clever, sly, smart), kurnaz (arch, artful, astute, cagey, calculating, canny, cattish, catty, coon, crafty, cute, designing, dodger, dodgy, downy, feline, Fox, foxy, hard boiled, heady, knowing, leery, politic, quirky, roguish, serpentine, sharp, shifty, shrewd, slick, slim, sly, sly old fox, slyboots, smart, subtile, tricky, vulpine, weasel, wheeler dealer, wide awake, wily, wise guy), kurnazlık (archness, art, artfulness, artifice, arts, astuteness, craftiness, dodge, finesse, foxiness, guile, shenanigan, shiftiness, slyness, smartness, stratagem, strategy, subtility, subtlety, trick, wheeler-dealing, wheeling and dealing, wiliness, wrinkle), marifet (artifice, attainments, gimmick, ingeniousness, ingenuity, skill, stunt, talent, trick, wrinkle), marifetli (dextrous, ingenious, nimble-fingered, skilful, skilled, talented), sevimli (amiable, appealing, bonny, charming, cuddlesome, cuddly, cute, delectable, fair, likable, likeable, lovable, lovely, nice, pleasant, prettily, pretty, sapid, sympathetic, winning, winsome), tilki gibi (crafty, foxy, sly, vulpine), beceri (ability, accomplishment, accomplishments, address, adroitness, art, artfulness, artifice, attainments, craft, deftness, dexterity, faculty, feat, finesse, ingeniousness, ingenuity, knack, know how, resource, savoir faire, science, skill, sleight, wizardry). (various references) | |
Turkmen | sap (shrewdness, temptation), юeяtanlyk (craftiness, trickery), mekirlik (guile), hokga (craftiness), hilegдrlik (craftiness), hile (craftiness). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | спритний (adroit, agile, alert, arch, artful, canny, deft, dexterous, dodgy, fly, handy, light fingered, light-handed, natty, nifty, nimble, nimble footed, nimble-fingered, pert, politic, practical, shuffling, slick, tactical, whipping, wide awake, zippy), хитрість (archness, artfulness, artifice, astuteness, catch, craft, craftiness, finesse, foxery, overreach, pawk, ploy, sharpness, sleight, stealth, trick, trickery, wiliness), хитрий (arch, argute, artful, astute, canny, cattish, crafty, devious, doleful, enterprising, foxy, hard-headed, leery, pawky, shifting, shrewd, sly, tricky, wide, wily), вправний (able, accomplished, adroit, artful, canny, capable, clever, crafty, deft, good, handy, jemmy, neat, neat-handed, nifty, practised, proficient), впраність, майстерність (address, art, craft, craftsmanship, feat, finesse, handicraft, mastership, mastery, neatness, proficiency, skill, workmanship), здібний (apt, bright, capable, clever), підступність (archness, astuteness, craftiness, devilry), підступний (astute, cattish, crafty, dastardly, guileful, insidious, jesuitic, jesuitical, serpentine, skittish, sly, treacherous, vulpine, wily, witty). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | xảo trá (captious, crafty, treacherous, trickish), xảo quyệt (artful, crafty, designing, machiavellian, politic, politically, slim, tricky), sự xảo trá, sự xảo quyệt, sự ranh vặt, sự láu cá (craftiness), sự khéo tay (adroitness, deftness, dexterity, skill, sleight), sự gian giảo, ranh vặt, láu cá (crafty, devious, dodgy, foxlike, leery, tricksy, tricky), khéo tay (adroit, deft, dexterous, dextrous, light-fingered, neat-handed, nimble-fingered, skilful, workmanlike), gian giảo, đáng yêu (amiable, cute, likable, likeable, lovable, lovely, nice-looking). (various references) | |
Welsh | cyfrwystra, cyfrwys (artful, astute), ffel (sharp, sly), ffalster (deceitfulness), dichellgar (artful, crafty, wily). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | artifex, artificem, artifices, artificesque, artificibus, artificis, artificum, Artis magistra Natura, artium, astus, astuti, astutia, astutiam, astutias, astutior, astutus, callide, callidi, callidior, calliditas, callidus, captiosus, docta, doctae, doctas, docte, docti, doctis, doctissimi, doctissimo, doctissimos, doctissimum, doctorum, doctos, doctus, dole, doli, dolis, dolo, dolorum, dolos, dolosa, dolose, dolosi, dolosis, dolositatem, doloso, dolosum, dolosus, dolum, dolus, Natura Artis Magistra, trebax, vafer, versutia, versutiae, -arum, versutiam, versutias. (various references) |
| Sanskrit | 300 BCE-Modern | sthaga-s. (various references) |
| Old English | 450-1100 | list. (various references) |
| Middle French | 1400-1600 | artifice. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Genesis Chapter 25, Verse 27 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Huxhqhsan de oi neaniskoi kai hn hsau anqrwpoV eidwV kunhgein agroikoV iakwb de hn anqrwpoV aplastoV oikwn oikian |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Quibus adultis factus est Esau vir gnarus venandi et homo agricola Iacob autem vir simplex habitabat in tabernaculis |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | The whiche wexen, Esau was maad a sleiy man of huntyng, and a man erthe tilier; Jacob forsothe a symple man dwelte in tabernaclis. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And the boyes grewe and Esau became a conynge hunter and a tyllman. But Iacob was a simple man and dwelled in the tentes. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And the boys grew: and Esau was a skillful hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man dwelling in tents. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And the boys came to full growth; and Esau became a man of the open country, an expert bowman; but Jacob was a quiet man, living in tents. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Genesis Chapter 25, Verse 27 |
| Cebuano | Ug ang mga bata nanagtubo, ug si Esau nahimong batid sa pangayam, tawo sa kapatagan: apan si Jacob mao ang tawo nga hilumon nga nagpuyo sa mga balongbalong. |
| Croatian | Kad su djeèaci odrasli, Ezav postane vješt lovac, èovjek pustare. Jakov je bio èovjek krotak i boravio je u šatorima. |
| Danish | Drengene voksede til, og Esau blev en dygtig Jæger, der færdedes i Ødemarken, men Jakob en fredsommelig Mand, en Mand, som boede i Telt. |
| Dutch | Als nu deze jongeren groot werden, werd Ezau een man, verstandig op de jacht, een veldman; maar Jakob werd een oprecht man, wonende in tenten. |
| Finnish | Ja pojat kasvoivat suuriksi, ja Eesausta tuli taitava metsästäjä, aron mies; Jaakob sitä vastoin oli hiljainen mies, joka pysyi kotosalla. |
| French | Ces enfants grandirent. Ésaü devint un habile chasseur, un homme des champs; mais Jacob fut un homme tranquille, qui restait sous les tentes. |
| German | Und da nun die Knaben groß wurden, ward Esau ein Jäger und streifte auf dem Felde, Jakob aber ein sanfter Mann und blieb in seinen Hütten. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kedua anak itu bertambah besar. Esau menjadi pemburu yang cakap dan suka tinggal di padang, tetapi Yakub bersifat tenang dan suka tinggal di rumah. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Maka kedua budak itupun makinlah besar, maka Esaf itu pandai berburu, dan ialah seorang peladang, tetapi Yakub seorang pendiam, yang duduk dalam kemah. |
| Maori | Na ka tupu nga tamariki ra: ko Ehau he tangata mohio ki te hopu kirehe mohoao, he tangata noho koraha; ko Hakopa ia he tangata ata noho, he tangata noho teneti. |
| Norwegian | Da nu guttene vokste til, blev Esau en dyktig jeger, en mann som holdt til i skog og mark; men Jakob var en stillferdig mann, som holdt sig ved teltene. |
| Rumanian | Bqieyii acewtia s`au fqcut mari. Esau a ajuns un vknqtor kndemknatic, un om care kwi petrecea vremea mai mult pe ckmp; dar Iacov era un om liniwtit, care stqtea acasq kn corturi. |
| Swedish | Och barnen växte upp, och Esau blev en skicklig jägare, som höll sig ute på marken; Jakob åter blev en fromsint man, som bodde i tält. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "cunning": cunninger, cunningest, cunningly, cunningness, cunningnesses, cunnings. (additional references) | |
| |
"Cunning" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Cennino, Chunyun, clonning, Connagh, connant, connin, cunan, cuning, cuningl, cunling, Cunnan, cunniag, cunnig, Cunnigar, cunnin, cunnon, cunnung, cunting, cyning, Kunnin, lunning, Munning. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "cunning" (pronounced ku"ning) |
| 4 | -u" n i ng | Dunning, gunning, rerunning, running, shunning, stunning, sunning. |
| 3 | -n i ng | apportioning, abstaining, abandoning, adjoining, adjourning, aligning, ascertaining, assigning, attaining, auctioning, auditioning, awakening, awning, ballooning, banning, bargaining, battening, beckoning, beginning, bemoaning, binning, blackening, bludgeoning, boning, branning, brightening, brining, broadening, Browning, burdening, burgeoning, burning, campaigning, caning, Canning, captioning, careening, cartooning, cautioning, chaining, championing, chaperoning, cheapening, christening, churning, cleaning, cloning, clowning, coarsening, cocooning, coining, combining, commissioning, complaining, concerning, conditioning, condoning, confining, conning, constraining, containing, convening, Corning, couponing, crooning, crowning, cushioning, dampening, darkening, dawning, deadening, deafening, declining, decommissioning, deepening, defining, demeaning, Denning, designing, detaining, determining, dining, Dinning, discerning, disciplining, disdaining, disheartening, disillusioning, divining, donning, Downing, draining, droning, drowning, Durning, earning, enjoining, enlightening, entertaining, envisioning, evening, examining, explaining, fanning, fashioning, fastening, fattening, fawning, feigning, fining, finning, flattening, freshening, frightening, frowning, functioning, gaining, gardening, ginning, glistening, governing, greening, grinning, groaning, happening, hardening, hastening, headlining, heartening, heightening, honing, Horning, housecleaning, imagining, imprisoning, impugning, inning, intertwining, intervening, intoning, ironing, jawboning, jettisoning, joining, Kenning, leaning, learning, leavening, lengthening, lessening, lightening, lightning, likening, lining, listening, loaning, loosening, machining, maddening, maintaining, malfunctioning, Manning, margining, meaning, mentioning, midmorning, mining, moaning, morning, motioning, mourning, obtaining, opening, opining, ordaining, orphaning, outlining, overrunning, overtraining, overturning, owning, panning, pardoning, partitioning, penning, pertaining, petitioning, phoning, pining, pinning, planning, poisoning, positioning, postponing, preening, preplanning, provisioning, pruning, quarantining, questioning, quickening, raining, rationing, realigning, reasoning, reassigning, reawakening, reckoning, reclining, reconditioning, redefining, redesigning, redlining, reexamining, refining, refraining, regaining, reigning, reining, rejoining, relearning, remaining, reopening, repositioning, resigning, restraining, retaining, retraining, returning, rezoning, ripening, ruining, saddening, sanctioning, scanning, screening, seasoning, sectioning, sharpening, shining, shortening, sickening, signing, sinning, siphoning, slackening, softening, spanning, spawning, spinning, spurning, staining, stationing, stiffening, stoning, straightening, straining, streamlining, strengthening, summoning, sustaining, sweetening, swooning, tanning, telephoning, thickening, thinning, threatening, tightening, toning, toughening, training, tuning, turning, twining, underlining, undermining, underpinning, unquestioning, unreasoning, vacationing, Vining, waning, warning, weakening, weaning, whining, whitening, widening, wining, winning, worsening, yawning, yearning, zoning. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-g-i-n-n-n-u" | |
-2 letters: cuing. | |
-3 letters: unci. | |
-4 letters: cig, gin, gnu, gun, inn, nun. | |
-5 letters: in, nu, un. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-g-i-n-n-n-u" | |
+1 letter: cunnings. | |
+2 letters: cunninger, cunningly, enouncing, unfencing. | |
+3 letters: announcing, continuing, cunningest, denouncing, renouncing, scunnering, unchaining, unchanging, uncrowning. | |
+4 letters: confounding, consanguine, cunnilingus, cunningness, enunciating, functioning, incongruent, influencing, nonreducing, pronouncing, unanchoring, unbalancing, unclenching, unclinching, uncoffining, unconfusing, uncongenial, unflinching. | |
+5 letters: annunciating, continuingly, encountering, incongruence, nonconsuming, nonproducing, nonrecurring, sunscreening, truncheoning, unchangingly, unconvincing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
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