sly

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*slak-“to hit, throw”
2. Proto-Germanic · derived from*slōgiz“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking”
3. Old Norse · derived fromslǿgr“sly, cunning”
4. Middle English · inherited fromsly
5. English todaysly

From Middle English sly, sley, sleigh, sleiȝ, from Old Norse slǿgr (“sly, cunning”, literally “capable of hitting or striking”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiz (“lively, agile, cunning, sly, striking”), from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, throw”). Cognate with Icelandic slægur (“crafty, sly”), Norwegian Nynorsk sløg (“sly”). Related to sleight, slay. In all likelihood, however, unrelated with Saterland Frisian slau (“sly, crafty”), Dutch sluw (“sly, cunning”), Low German slu (“sly, cunning”), German schlau (“clever, crafty”). Doublet of sleight and slöjd

Words from the same roots