Standard Lemma guide

guileless

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɡaɪl.ləs/
  • [ˈɡaɪɫ.ləs]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: G AY1 L L AH0 S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Free from guile; honest but naive.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

free of deceit

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: transparent

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English guile Proto-Indo-European *lewh1- Proto-Indo-European *lewHs-der. Proto-Germanic *leusaną Proto-Germanic *lausaz Proto-Germanic *-lausaz Proto-West Germanic *-laus Old English -lēas Middle English -les English -less English guileless From guile + -less.

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bengali: নিষ্কপট (niśkopoṭ) — honest but naive
  • Bengali: কুটিলতাবর্জিত (kuʈilôtabôrjitô) — honest but naive
  • Bulgarian: наивен (naiven) — honest but naive
  • Bulgarian: простодушен (prostodušen) — honest but naive
  • Catalan: candorós — honest but naive
  • Dutch: argeloos — honest but naive
  • Esperanto: simplanima — honest but naive
  • French: candide — honest but naive
  • German: arglos — honest but naive
  • Ancient Greek: ἄδολος (ádolos) — honest but naive
  • Ancient Greek: εὐήθης (euḗthēs) — honest but naive
  • Icelandic: falslaus — honest but naive
  • Icelandic: einlægur — honest but naive
  • Icelandic: heiðvirður — honest but naive
  • Irish: soineanta — honest but naive
  • Italian: ingenuo — honest but naive
  • Marathi: निष्कपट (niṣkapaṭ) — honest but naive
  • Occitan: candid — honest but naive
  • Occitan: candide — honest but naive
  • Tamil: வெள்ளை (veḷḷai) — honest but naive