sly

See also: Sly, slý, and šly

English

Alternative forms

• sligh (obsolete)

Etymology

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”). 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

• IPA^(key): /slaɪ/

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Adjective

sly (comparative slier or slyer, superlative sliest or slyest)

1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
2. (having a positive sense) Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice

   Synonyms: nimble, skillful, cautious, shrewd

3. Done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy; subtle

   a sly trick

4. Light or delicate; slight; thin.

Synonyms

• artful
• cunning
• knowing
• sharp
• crafty

• shrewd
• shifty
• sly as a fox
• slim
• wily

• See also Thesaurus:wily

Derived terms

Terms derived from sly

• sly as a fox
• on the sly

• slyboots

• slyness

Translations

artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily

• Arabic: خَبِيث‎ (ḵabīṯ), مَاكِر‎ (mākir)

  Egyptian Arabic: خبيث‎ (xabiis), مكار‎ (mkaar)

• Armenian: խորամանկ (hy) (xoramank)
• Basque: azeri (eu)
• Belarusian: хі́тры (be) (xítry)
• Bulgarian: лука́в (bg) (lukáv), хи́тър (bg) (hítǎr), кова́рен (bg) (kováren)
• Catalan: astut (ca), murri (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 狡猾 (zh) (jiǎohuá), 鬼黠 (zh) (guǐxiá), 狡黠 (zh) (jiǎoxiá)

• Czech: prohnaný
• Dutch: sluw (nl)
• Esperanto: ruza (eo)
• Finnish: ovela (fi)
• French: sournois (fr), malin (fr), rusé (fr), matois (fr)
• German: schlau (de), gerissen (de), listig (de), verschmitzt (de)
• Gothic: 𐌻𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (listeigs)
• Greek:

  Ancient: κίδαφος (kídaphos), πανοῦργος (panoûrgos)

• Hungarian: ravasz (hu)
• Irish: bradach
• Italian: furbo (it), sornione (it)
• Japanese: 狡い (ja) (ずるい, zurui), 狡猾な (ja) (こうかつな, kōkatsu na)

• Korean: 교활하다 (ko) (gyohwalhada)
• Latin: vafer, versūtus, callidus
• Macedonian: лукав (lukav)
• Maori: mūrere, tītipa
• Middle English: sly, sleighty, sleight
• Neapolitan: 'mbruglione
• Norman: seurnouais
• Norwegian: slu, sleip
• Old Church Slavonic:

  Cyrillic: хꙑтръ (xytrŭ), лѫкавъ (lǫkavŭ)

• Plautdietsch: schlau
• Polish: chytry (pl)
• Portuguese: esperto (pt), astuto (pt), manhoso (pt)
• Russian: хи́трый (ru) (xítryj), кова́рный (ru) (kovárnyj) (wily), лука́вый (ru) (lukávyj)
• Sanskrit: धूर्त (sa) (dhūrta)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: лукав, препреден

  Roman: lukav (sh), prepreden (sh)

• Slovak: ľstivý, prešibaný
• Slovene: pretkan (sl), zvit (sl)
• Spanish: astuto (es), pillo (es), listo (es)
• Swedish: slug (sv)
• Turkish: kurnaz (tr)
• Ukrainian: хи́трий (xýtryj), лука́вий (lukávyj)
• Yiddish: כיטרע‎ (khitre)

dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble

• Bulgarian: потаен (bg) (potaen)
• Finnish: ovela (fi)
• French: espiègle (fr)
• Irish: glic
• Italian: sornione (it), subdolo (it)
• Norwegian: slu

• Russian: ло́вкий (ru) (lóvkij)
• Serbo-Croatian: lukav (sh)
• Slovak: chytrý, prešibaný
• Spanish: habilidoso (es)

done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy

• Bulgarian: изкусен (bg) (izkusen)
• Finnish: ovela (fi)
• Italian: furtivo (it)
• Middle English: sly

• Norwegian: slu, listig
• Russian: иску́сный (ru) (iskúsnyj)

light or delicate; slight; thin

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.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} sluw (nl), ^{(please verify)} listig (nl)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} spleách

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 교활한 (gyohwalhan)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} slug (sv), ^{(please verify)} listig (sv)

Further reading

• sly in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• sly in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Adverb

sly

1. Slyly.

Anagrams

• Lys, YLS, YLs, lys, syl-

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Lower Sorbian

Adjective

sly

1. Obsolete spelling of zły (“bad, evil”)

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Middle English

Alternative forms

• scle, slei, sley, scley, slegh, sleigh, sleygh, sligh, slygh, sleȝ, sleiȝ, sleiȝh, sliȝ, slyȝ, scliȝ, slyȝh, sleyh, slih, slyh

Etymology

From Old Norse slœgr, from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliː/, /slɛi̯/, /slix/, /slɛi̯x/

Adjective

sly (plural and weak singular slye, comparative slyer, superlative sliest)

1. Judicious, considered, shrewd; having or indicative of great wisdom.
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], published c. 1410, Matheu 10:35, page 4v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:

     lo I ſende ȝou as ſcheep in þe myddil of wolues / þerfoꝛ be ȝe ſliȝ as ſerpentis .· and ſymple as dowues

     So I'm sending you out like sheep in amongst wolves, so be shrewd like snakes and harmless like doves.

2. Adept, expert, quality; having or indicative of great expertise.
3. Sly, artful, wily; employing or being an example of deception.
4. (rare) Attractive; having good looks.
5. (rare) Unknown or hidden.

Related terms

• sleighly
• sleight
• slynesse

Descendants

• English: sly
• Scots: slee

References

• “sleigh, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-05.

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Swedish

Noun

sly n

1. very young trees, in particular while growing very densely

Declension

Declension of sly
	Uncountable
	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	sly	slyet	—	—
Genitive	slys	slyets	—	—

Anagrams

• lys, syl, yls