Etymology

artful

art·ful
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Today it means: Characterized by, or performed with, cleverness or contrivance; clever, ingenious. Full definition →

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The story

From art (“skill that is attained by study, practice, or observation”) + -ful (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, with the sense of being full of, tending to, or thoroughly possessing the quality expressed by the noun).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.