Etymology

sleight

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Today it means: Cunning; craft; artful practice. Full definition →

Middle English sleighte ← Old Norse slœgð ← Proto-Germanic *slōgiþō
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The story

  1. Proto-Germanic · derived from*slōgiþō
  2. Old Norse · derived fromslœgð“cunning”
  3. Middle English · inherited fromsleighte
  4. English todaysleight

From Middle English sleighte, sleyght, sleythe, from Old Norse slœgð (“cunning”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiþō, from *slōgiz (“cunning”) (whence English sly). Doublet of sly and slöjd/sloyd.

Words from the same roots

Old Norseslœgð all →

slöjd

Proto-Germanic*slōgiþō all →

slöjd

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.