sly
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- sligh (obsolete)
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slægr, slœgr (“sly, cunning”, literally “capable of hitting or striking”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, throw”). Cognate with Icelandic slægur (“crafty, sly”), Norwegian Nynorsk sløg (“sly”), Swedish slug (“sly”). Related to sleight, slay. In all likelihood, however, unrelated with Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
sly (comparative slier or slyer, superlative sliest or slyest)
- Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
- (having a positive sense) Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice
- Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle
- a sly trick
- Light or delicate; slight; thin.
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:wily
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Further reading[edit]
- sly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- sly in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911.
Adverb[edit]
sly
Anagrams[edit]
Lower Sorbian[edit]
Adjective[edit]
sly
- Obsolete spelling of zły (“bad, evil”)
Middle English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
- scle, slei, sley, scley, slegh, sleigh, sleygh, sligh, slygh, sleȝ, sleiȝ, sleiȝh, sliȝ, slyȝ, scliȝ, slyȝh, sleyh, slih, slyh
Etymology[edit]
From Old Norse slœgr, from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
sly (plural and weak singular slye, comparative slyer, superlative sliest)
- Judicious, considered, shrewd; having or indicative of great wisdom.
- Adept, expert, quality; having or indicative of great expertise.
- Sly, artful, wily; employing or being an example of deception.
- (rare) Attractive; having good looks.
- (rare) Unknown or hidden.
Related terms[edit]
Descendants[edit]
References[edit]
- “sleigh, adj.” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-05.
Swedish[edit]
Noun[edit]
sly n
- very young trees, in particular while growing very densely
Declension[edit]
Declension of sly | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | sly | slyet | — | — |
Genitive | slys | slyets | — | — |
Anagrams[edit]
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English adverbs
- Lower Sorbian lemmas
- Lower Sorbian adjectives
- Lower Sorbian obsolete forms
- Middle English terms borrowed from Old Norse
- Middle English terms derived from Old Norse
- Middle English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English adjectives
- Middle English terms with rare senses
- enm:Appearance
- enm:Mind
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish neuter nouns