DictionaryAI

cunning

KUN-ing/ˈkʌnɪŋ/

6 meanings of cunning

Practice

  1. 1
    adjective
    Clever in a sly, crafty way, especially at achieving things secretly or through trickery.

    The cunning old dealer let the buyers think they were getting a bargain.

    The scammers have become cunning enough to copy the look of real bank emails.

    UsageNot plain praise: it suggests trickery, while clever is neutral. A cunning plan is a common, often playful phrase.

    Similarcrafty, sly, wily, artful, shrewd

    Oppositenaive, guileless, ingenuous

    Note

    The sly meaning is the one in everyday use, but the word began as knowing: it is the old present participle of an Old English verb, cunnan, "to know how to." Ability became skill, and skill used out of sight became craftiness. Robert South's sermons already set the cunning against the sincere, and that contrast with honesty is the edge the word still carries.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

  2. 2
    noununcountable
    Clever skill in tricking or deceiving others or in getting what one wants, in people or in animals.

    He rose through the party ranks by cunning rather than talent.

    It took all her cunning to slip the documents past the border guards.

    UsageOften by cunning or with cunning, set against strength or talent.

    Similarguile, craftiness, slyness, wiliness, deviousness

  3. 3
    cleverly madeadjective
    Cleverly designed or made; ingenious, as in a cunning device.

    The garden was watered by a cunning system of pipes buried under the paths.

    Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning web.
    1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene
    Note

    The praise passes from the maker to the thing made: Spenser gives Arachne a cunning web in The Faerie Queene (1590), and older writing speaks of cunning work. It can praise the maker's hands or the result, and ingenious is its nearest synonym.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Spenser describes Arachne's web as cunning in The Faerie Queene, Book II, Canto VII, stanza 28. talus.artsci.wustl.edu
    • The Faerie Queene's first three books, including the cited passage, were first published in 1590. gla.ac.uk
    • Older writing uses the expression cunning work. en.wikisource.org
  4. 4
    know-hownoununcountable
    Practical knowledge and experience, or the skill and dexterity to perform a task well.

    Even after a decade away from the stage, the pianist's fingers had lost none of their cunning.

    Building a stone wall without mortar takes a mason's cunning as much as strength.

    Similarskill, dexterity, expertise, deftness

    Note

    The noun has a history of its own: it is partly a verbal noun formed on the same Old English verb, so at heart it names the knowing-how itself, skill and practice. Said of hands, fingers or a craftsman, it still praises; said of a person's plans, it slides toward the sly sense.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The noun derives partly from a verbal noun formed from Old English cunnan. en.wiktionary.org

Less common meanings

  1. 5
    nounobsoleteuncountable
    Knowledge or learning, including special knowledge that sometimes suggests the occult or magic.
    Note

    Nothing sly is meant here: in an old text, a person's cunning is what they know, and when the word darkens it darkens toward magic, not toward deceit. It sits nearest the Old English verb for knowing how, the root that also lies behind the sly adjective.

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • In the historical knowledge sense discussed here, cunning means learning or special knowledge, sometimes including occult or magical knowledge, without inherently meaning deceit. en.wiktionary.org
    • The noun shares an Old English source meaning 'to know how to' with the adjective. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 6
    cuteadjectivedatedUS
    Cute and charming, attractive in a sweet or delightful way.

    Aunt Ruth thought the doll's cunning little tea set was the sweetest thing in the shop.

    everybody gives something to the cunning little boy; his eyes are large and soft, and he wears a pointed hat, and tight breeches, and jacket
    1857, Barbara H. Channing, The Sisters Abroad

    UsageOften used with little, as in a cunning little hat, though today most people hear the 'sly' meaning first.

    Similarcute, charming, sweet, darling

    Note

    This was a nineteenth-century compliment for small, charming things and children, often with little close by: a cunning little boy, a cunning room with a three-cornered closet. Louisa May Alcott uses it in An Old-Fashioned Girl, and it is associated with Maine speech.

    Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

    • The complimentary sense describing charming things and children existed in the nineteenth century; a cited 1857 example describes a boy. en.wiktionary.org
    • Louisa May Alcott uses the charming sense in An Old-Fashioned Girl, including the room example, spoken by Maud. gutenberg.org
    • The sense is associated with Maine speech. dextercattle.org

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of cunning apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origins

Meanings 1, 3, 6

Old English cunnan meant "to know how to, be able to," and its present participle cunnende became early Middle English cunninde and cunnand, which were later altered to cunning or kunning. It is equivalent to con + -ing. Cognates include Icelandic kunnandi ("cunning"), Scots cunnand ("cunning"), and German könnend ("able to do").

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

  • Old English cunnan meant ‘to know how to’ and ‘to be able to’. en.wiktionary.org
  • Cunnende was the present participle of Old English cunnan. en.wiktionary.org
  • Old English cunnende developed into early Middle English cunninde and cunnand, later altered to cunning or kunning. ja.wiktionary.org
  • Cunning is etymologically equivalent to con + -ing. ja.wiktionary.org
  • Cognates include Icelandic kunnandi (‘cunning’), Scots cunnand (‘cunning’), and German könnend (‘able to do’). en.wiktionary.org
Meanings 2, 4–5

From Middle English cunning, kunnyng, partly from an Old English verbal noun *cunning, from cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”), and partly from Old English cunnung (“knowledge, trial, experience”), from cunnian (“to search into, try, test, explore, know”); equivalent to con + -ing.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts