Standard Lemma guide

sly

adj · adv · name · 8 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.

  • /slaɪ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aɪ
  • CMU ARPABET: S L AY1 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Qualifier: having a positive connotation

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nimble, skillful, cautious, shrewd

Antonyms: none provided

3

adj

Meaning 3

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • a sly trick

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

adj

Meaning 4

Light or delicate; slight; thin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

adv

Meaning 5

Slyly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

name

Meaning 6

A diminutive of the male given name Sylvester.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

7

name

Meaning 7

A surname

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

adjective satellite

Meaning 8

marked by skill in deception

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • cunning men often pass for wise
  • deep political machinations
  • a foxy scheme
  • a slick evasive answer
  • sly as a fox
  • tricky Dick
  • a wily old attorney

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful, knavish, slick, tricksy, tricky, wily

Antonyms: none provided

History

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

Across languages

Translations

103 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: خَبِيث (ḵabīṯ) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Arabic: مَاكِر (mākir) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Arabic: خبيث (xabiis) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Arabic: مكار (mkaar) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Armenian: խորամանկ (xoramank) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Basque: azeri — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Belarusian: хі́тры (xítry) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Bulgarian: лука́в (lukáv) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Bulgarian: хи́тър (hítǎr) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Bulgarian: кова́рен (kováren) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Catalan: astut — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Catalan: murri — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Chinese Mandarin: 狡猾 (jiǎohuá) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Chinese Mandarin: 鬼黠 (guǐxiá) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Chinese Mandarin: 狡黠 (jiǎoxiá) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Czech: prohnaný — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Czech: lstivý — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Dutch: sluw — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Esperanto: ruza — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Finnish: viekas — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • French: sournois — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • French: malin — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • French: rusé — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • French: matois — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • German: schlau — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • German: gerissen — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • German: listig — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • German: verschmitzt — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Gothic: 𐌻𐌹𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (listeigs) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ancient Greek: κίδαφος (kídaphos) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ancient Greek: πανοῦργος (panoûrgos) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Hungarian: ravasz — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ingrian: veekas — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ingrian: kavala — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Irish: bradach — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Italian: furbo — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Italian: sornione — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Japanese: 狡い (zurui) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Japanese: 狡猾な (kōkatsu na) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Korean: 교활하다 (gyohwalhada) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Latin: vafer — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Latin: versūtus — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Latin: callidus — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Macedonian: лукав (lukav) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Māori: mūrere — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Māori: tītipa — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Middle English: sly — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Middle English: sleighty — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Middle English: sleighte — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Neapolitan: 'mbruglione — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Norman: seurnouais — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Norwegian: slu — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Norwegian: sleip — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Church Slavic: хꙑтръ (xytrŭ) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Church Slavic: лѫкавъ (lǫkavŭ) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Plautdietsch: schlau — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Polish: chytry — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Polish: cwany — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Portuguese: esperto — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Portuguese: astuto — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Portuguese: manhoso — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Romanian: viclean — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Russian: хи́трый (xítryj) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Russian: кова́рный (kovárnyj) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Russian: лука́вый (lukávyj) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Sanskrit: धूर्त (dhūrta) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Serbo-Croatian: лукав — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Serbo-Croatian: препреден — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Serbo-Croatian: lukav — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Serbo-Croatian: prepreden — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Slovak: ľstivý — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Slovak: prešibaný — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Slovene: pretkan — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Slovene: zvit — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Spanish: astuto — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Spanish: pillo — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Spanish: listo — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Swedish: slug — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Turkish: kurnaz — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ottoman Turkish: قورناز (kurnaz) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ottoman Turkish: آصمق (asmak) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ukrainian: хи́трий (xýtryj) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Ukrainian: лука́вий (lukávyj) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Yiddish: כיטרע (khitre) — artfully cunning; secretly mischievous; wily
  • Bulgarian: потаен (potaen) — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Finnish: ovela — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • French: espiègle — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Irish: glic — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Italian: sornione — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Italian: subdolo — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Norwegian: slu — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Russian: ло́вкий (lóvkij) — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Serbo-Croatian: lukav — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Slovak: chytrý — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Slovak: prešibaný — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Spanish: habilidoso — dexterous in performing an action, so as to escape notice; nimble
  • Bulgarian: изкусен (izkusen) — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
  • Finnish: ovela — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
  • Italian: furtivo — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
  • Middle English: sly — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
  • Norwegian: slu — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
  • Norwegian: listig — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy
  • Russian: иску́сный (iskúsnyj) — done with, and marked by, artful and dexterous secrecy