Meanings
guile1
plural guiles
- uncountableAstuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.
Estonia were struggling to get to grips with the game while Ireland were showing a composure and guile that demonstrated their experience in play-off ties.
2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport1 more example
It was a result that owed a lot to a moment of guile from Ramires but more to a display of guts from the Brazilian and his team-mates after Terry's needless dismissal eight minutes before half-time for driving a knee into the back of Alexis Sanchez off the ball.
2012 April 24, Phil Dawkes, “Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport - countableuncountableDeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, John 1:47
present singular third person guiles · participle present guiling · participle past guiled · past guiled
guile2
- obsoleteObsolete form of gold.
- alternativeAlternative form of gyle.
[…] a curdly, yeasty head on a Guile of Beer.
1776, William Reddington, A practical treatise on brewing: The third edition, page 1011 more example
Perkins told me Yesterday that his Guile of Beer had a Summer-head on't, like as one sees in the last Weeks of Brewing in a forward Spring:—The Phænomenon surprized him I find.
1790 October 7, Hester Thrale Piozzi, Thraliana
Guile3
Synonyms & antonyms
nounshrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception
nounthe use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
guile · noun, verb
- Proto-Indo-European*wey-“to turn, bend”
- Proto-Germanic*wīlą
- Frankish*wīl“ruse”
- Old Frenchguile“deception”
- Anglo-Normangile
- Middle Englishgile
- Englishguile
From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wīl (“ruse”), from Proto-Germanic *wīlą, from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.
More words from Middle English, Anglo-Norman, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Guile · proper noun
- Frenchguile
- EnglishGuile
* As an English, Scottish, and French surname, borrowed from French guile. * Also as an English surname, variant of Gill. * Possibly also Americanized from the German surname Geil.
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian хитрост, измама
- хитрост (hitrost)astuteness, cunning
- измама (izmama)deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- коварство (kovarstvo)deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- мамя (mamja)to deceive, to beguile
- хитрувам (hitruvam)to deceive, to beguile
Catalan astúcia, engany
- astúciaastuteness, cunning
- enganydeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- enganyarto deceive, to beguile
Chinese Mandarin 詭計 /诡计, 欺騙 /欺骗
- 詭計 /诡计 (guǐjì)astuteness, cunning
- 欺騙 /欺骗 (qīpiàn)to deceive, to beguile
- 欺瞞 /欺瞒 (qīmán)to deceive, to beguile
Czech záludnost, lstivost
- záludnostdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- lstivostdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- úskočnostdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- podvoddeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- podvéstto deceive, to beguile
Dutch slinksheid, valsheid
- slinksheidastuteness, cunning
- valsheidastuteness, cunning
- bedrogastuteness, cunning
- misleidingdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
Finnish juonikkuus, kavaluus
- juonikkuusastuteness, cunning
- kavaluusastuteness, cunning
- oveluusastuteness, cunning
- vilppideceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- huijausdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- petkutusdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- harhautusdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- juoniato deceive, to beguile
- juonitellato deceive, to beguile
- viekastellato deceive, to beguile
French ruse, fourberie
- ruseastuteness, cunning
- fourberieastuteness, cunning
- tromperiedeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- tromperto deceive, to beguile
- entourlouperto deceive, to beguile
German Gerissenheit, Hinterhältigkeit
- Gerissenheitastuteness, cunning
- Hinterhältigkeitastuteness, cunning
- Hinterlistdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- Täuschungdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- Betrugdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- irreleitento deceive, to beguile
- irreführento deceive, to beguile
Hungarian ármány, álnokság
- ármányastuteness, cunning
- álnokságastuteness, cunning
- csalárdságastuteness, cunning
Icelandic vélabrögð, kænska
- vélabrögðastuteness, cunning
- kænskaastuteness, cunning
- slægðastuteness, cunning
- vélato deceive, to beguile
- tælato deceive, to beguile
Irish meang
- meangastuteness, cunning
Italian astuzia, inganno
- astuziaastuteness, cunning
- ingannoastuteness, cunning
- frodeastuteness, cunning
- ingannareto deceive, to beguile
- turlupinareto deceive, to beguile
Latin dolus
- dolusdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
Māori rauhanga, māminga
- rauhangaastuteness, cunning
- māmingadeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- whakawaredeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- hīangadeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- whakawareto deceive, to beguile
- hīangato deceive, to beguile
Polish przebiegłość, podstęp
- przebiegłośćastuteness, cunning
- podstępdeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- oszukiwaćto deceive, to beguile
- oszukaćto deceive, to beguile
Portuguese astúcia
- astúciaastuteness, cunning
Russian хи́трость, кова́рство
- хи́трость (xítrostʹ)astuteness, cunning
- кова́рство (kovárstvo)astuteness, cunning
- обман (obman)deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- вероломство (verolomstvo)deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- обма́нывать (obmányvatʹ)to deceive, to beguile
- обману́ть (obmanútʹ)to deceive, to beguile
Spanish astucia, trampa
- astuciaastuteness, cunning
- trampadeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
- engañodeceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty
Swedish list
- listastuteness, cunning
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with guile
Cite this entry
guile. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guile
“guile.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guile. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “guile,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/guile.
Source: guile on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.