Standard Lemma guide

wily

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.

  • /ˈwaɪ.li/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -aɪli
  • homophone: Wiley
  • homophone: Wylie
  • homophone: Wylye
  • CMU ARPABET: W AY1 L IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Sly, cunning, full of tricks.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • Horatio's new girlfriend is a wily coquette, and poor Horatio is too smitten to see it.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

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, sly, tricksy, tricky

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Middle English wily, wiley, wyly. By surface analysis, wil(e) + -y.

Across languages

Translations

62 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: хитър (hitǎr) — sly, cunning
  • Bulgarian: лукав (lukav) — sly, cunning
  • Chinese Mandarin: 狡猾 (jiǎohuá) — sly, cunning
  • Czech: prohnaný — sly, cunning
  • Czech: mazaný — sly, cunning
  • Czech: vychytralý — sly, cunning
  • Danish: snu — sly, cunning
  • Dutch: gewiekst — sly, cunning
  • Dutch: snood — sly, cunning
  • Finnish: ovela — sly, cunning
  • Finnish: viekas — sly, cunning
  • Finnish: juonikas — sly, cunning
  • Finnish: kiero — sly, cunning
  • Finnish: luihu — sly, cunning
  • Finnish: kavala — sly, cunning
  • French: rusé — sly, cunning
  • French: perfide — sly, cunning
  • French: fourbe — sly, cunning
  • Galician: astuto — sly, cunning
  • German: schlau — sly, cunning
  • German: listig — sly, cunning
  • German: gerissen — sly, cunning
  • Greek: πανούργος (panoúrgos) — sly, cunning
  • Greek: πονηρός (ponirós) — sly, cunning
  • Ancient Greek: κίδαφος (kídaphos) — sly, cunning
  • Hungarian: ravasz — sly, cunning
  • Italian: furbo — sly, cunning
  • Italian: sornione — sly, cunning
  • Italian: subdolo — sly, cunning
  • Japanese: 狡猾な (kōkatsu na) — sly, cunning
  • Japanese: 狡い (zurui) — sly, cunning
  • Korean: 교활한 (gyohwal-han) — sly, cunning
  • Latin: vafer — sly, cunning
  • Latin: versūtus — sly, cunning
  • Latin: dolōsus — sly, cunning
  • Māori: hangahangarau — sly, cunning
  • Occitan: ganèl — sly, cunning
  • Occitan: fals — sly, cunning
  • Occitan: enganaire — sly, cunning
  • Plautdietsch: schlau — sly, cunning
  • Polish: chytry — sly, cunning
  • Polish: przebiegły — sly, cunning
  • Polish: sprytny — sly, cunning
  • Portuguese: ladino — sly, cunning
  • Portuguese: matreiro — sly, cunning
  • Portuguese: finório — sly, cunning
  • Russian: хи́трый (xítryj) — sly, cunning
  • Russian: лука́вый (lukávyj) — sly, cunning
  • Russian: проны́рливый (pronýrlivyj) — sly, cunning
  • Russian: изворо́тливый (izvorótlivyj) — sly, cunning
  • Scottish Gaelic: seòlta — sly, cunning
  • Scottish Gaelic: carach — sly, cunning
  • Scottish Gaelic: seanacach — sly, cunning
  • Slovak: prefíkaný — sly, cunning
  • Spanish: astuto — sly, cunning
  • Spanish: listo — sly, cunning
  • Spanish: pillo — sly, cunning
  • Swedish: lömsk — sly, cunning
  • Swedish: slug — sly, cunning
  • Swedish: illistig — sly, cunning
  • Ottoman Turkish: قورناز (kurnaz) — sly, cunning
  • Ottoman Turkish: آصمق (asmak) — sly, cunning