Guile Definition

gīl
guiles
noun
guiles
Slyness and cunning in dealing with others.
Webster's New World
A trick or stratagem.
American Heritage

(uncountable) Astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.

Wiktionary
verb
To beguile; deceive.
American Heritage
Wiktionary

Origin of Guile

  • From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wigila (“ruse”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English from Old French of Germanic origin Old English wigle divination, sorcery

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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