What does cunning mean?
Cunning describes a kind of intelligence that operates through indirection, trickery, or concealment rather than openness or force. As an adjective, it characterises people, animals, schemes, and devices that achieve their aims by craft rather than candour — a cunning negotiator, a cunning fox, a cunning plot. As a noun, it names that quality itself: the sly, resourceful cleverness by which someone outmanoeuvres others. Although the word once meant simply "skilled" or "knowledgeable," its dominant modern connotation is negative, implying deceit and self-interest; yet it survives in more neutral uses, such as praising a piece of cunning design for its ingenuity. Synonyms include crafty, sly, wily, and artful, while honest and naive sit at the opposite pole. The word remains useful precisely because it captures a distinctive blend of intelligence and guile that plainer terms like "clever" do not.
Clever at attaining one's goals by deceit, evasion, or indirect methods; craftily ingenious.
"He devised a cunning scheme to avoid paying the toll."
Usually negative today, but still used neutrally for ingenuity in phrases like "a cunning contraption."
The quality of being cunning; crafty intelligence or sly skill.
"She escaped the con artists' trap through her own native cunning."
Rarely used; "cunning" as a noun is almost always treated as uncountable.
"The tale recounts the fox's many cunnings across the seasons."
Cunning wasn't always an insult — in Old English it simply meant "knowing," and for centuries a cunning craftsman was just a highly skilled one.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cunning
Cunning derives from the Old English verb "cunnan," meaning "to know" or "to be able," which also gave rise to the modern verbs "can" and "con" (in the sense of studying) and to the Scots word "ken." Originally the present participle of that verb, it long denoted knowledge or skill — a "cunning" workman was simply a masterful one. Only over the centuries did the meaning narrow toward craftiness and deceit. The underlying root traces back through Proto-Germanic *kunn- to the broader Germanic family of "knowing" words.
Related word forms
How cunning is actually used
In modern usage cunning carries a predominantly negative connotation of deceit, though it retains an older, neutral sense of ingenious skill, especially in phrases like "a piece of cunning engineering." It is standard register in both British and American English. The related adverb is "cunningly."
Easily confused with cunning
"Conning" means deceiving or swindling someone (the -ing form of "con"), while "cunning" means clever and deceitful in general.
"Canny" means shrewd and prudent in a positive sense, whereas "cunning" usually implies deceitfulness.