sly
See also: Sly
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”), Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”). Related to sleight, slay.
Pronunciation
Adjective
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
- See also Thesaurus:wily
Derived terms
Terms derived from sly
Translations
artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
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dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
light or delicate; slight; thin
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Further reading
- “sly”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “sly”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Adverb
sly
Anagrams
Lower Sorbian
Adjective
sly
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
Adjective
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
Descendants
References
- “sleigh, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-06-05.
Swedish
Noun
sly n
- very young trees, in particular while growing very densely
Declension
Declension of sly | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Uncountable | ||||
Indefinite | Definite | |||
Nominative | sly | slyet | — | — |
Genitive | slys | slyets | — | — |
Anagrams
Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
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- English terms derived from Old Norse
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/aɪ
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- Lower Sorbian lemmas
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