sly

See also: Sly, slý, and šly

English

Alternative forms

• sligh (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“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”). Doublet of sleight and slöjd

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slaɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ

Adjective

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

1. Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.
2. (having a positive connotation) 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
• crafty
• cunning
• knowing
• sharp
• shifty
• shrewd
• slim
• sly as a fox
• wily

• See also Thesaurus:wily

Derived terms

• by the sly
• on the sly
• sly as a fox
• slyboots
• sly dog
• sly fox
• sly-grog
• 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, lstivý Dutch: sluw (nl) Esperanto: ruza (eo) Finnish: viekas (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) Ingrian: veekas, kavala 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, sleighte Neapolitan: 'mbruglione Norman: seurnouais Norwegian: slu, sleip Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: хꙑтръ (xytrŭ), лѫкавъ (lǫkavŭ) Ottoman Turkish: قورناز (kurnaz), آصمق (asmak) Plautdietsch: schlau Polish: chytry (pl), cwany (pl) Portuguese: esperto (pt), astuto (pt), manhoso (pt) Romanian: viclean (ro) m 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. 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, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sly”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Adverb

sly

1. Slyly.

Anagrams

• YLS, YLs, lys, YSL, Lys, syl-

Lower Sorbian

Adjective

sly

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

Middle English

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Norse slǿgr, from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sliː(x)/, /sleː(x)/, /slix/

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.)‎, 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
• sleighte
• slynesse

Descendants

• English: sly
• Scots: slee

References

• “sleigh, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 June 2019.