guile

English

Etymology

From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wigila (“ruse”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡaɪl/
• Rhymes: -aɪl

Noun

guile (countable and uncountable; plural guiles)

1. (uncountable) astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.
   • 2012 April 24, Phil Dawkes, “Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea”, BBC Sport:

     It was a result that owed a lot to a moment of guile from Ramires but more to a display of guts from the Brazilian and his team-mates after Terry's needless dismissal eight minutes before half-time for driving a knee into the back of Alexis Sanchez off the ball.

   • 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, RTE Sport:

     Estonia were struggling to get to grips with the game while Ireland were showing a composure and guile that demonstrated their experience in play-off ties.

2. deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
   • 'The Bible - King James Version: John 1:47

     Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

Translations

astuteness, cunning

• Dutch: slinksheid (nl), valsheid (nl), bedrog (nl)
• Finnish: juonikkuus, kavaluus
• French: ruse (fr) f, fourberie (fr) f
• German: Gerissenheit (de) f
• Icelandic: vélabrögð (is) n pl, kænska (is) f, slægð (is) f

• Interlingua: astutia
• Italian: astuzia (it)
• Portuguese: astúcia (pt) f, fraude
• Spanish: astucia (es) f

Verb

guile (third-person singular simple present guiles, present participle guiling, simple past and past participle guiled)

1. to deceive, to beguile

Translations

to deceive, to beguile

• Icelandic: véla (is), tæla (is)

Derived terms

• beguile
• guileful
• guileless

Related terms

• wile

---

Old French

Etymology

Frankish, see above

Noun

guile f (oblique plural guiles, nominative singular guile, nominative plural guiles)

1. trickery; deception
   • circa 1250, Rutebeuf, Ci encoumence li miracles que nostre Dame fist dou soucretain et d'une dame:

     Moult saveiz bien servir de guile.

     You know very well how to use trickery

Descendants

• English: guile

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881)