guile

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See also: Guile

English

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Etymology 1

From Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wigila (“ruse”), from Proto-Germanic *wīlą, from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɡaɪl/
    • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪl
  • Hyphenation: guile

Noun

guile (countable and uncountable, plural guiles)

  1. (uncountable) Astuteness often marked by a certain sense of cunning or artful deception.
    • 2012 April 24, Phil Dawkes, “Barcelona 2-2 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport‎:
      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.
    • 2011 November 11, Rory Houston, “Estonia 0-4 Republic of Ireland”, in RTE Sport‎:
      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.
  2. Deceptiveness, deceit, fraud, duplicity, dishonesty.
Translations

Verb

guile (third-person singular simple present guiles, present participle guiling, simple past and past participle guiled)

  1. To deceive, beguile, bewile.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Etymology 2

Variant forms.

Noun

guile

  1. Obsolete form of gold.
  2. Alternative form of gyle

References

  1. ^ T.F. Hoad, Concise Dictionary of English Etymology, →ISBN; headword guile

Old French

Etymology

From Frankish *wigila, from Proto-Germanic *wīlą, from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, bend”).

Noun

guile oblique singular, f (oblique plural guiles, nominative singular guile, nominative plural guiles)

  1. trickery; deception

Descendants

  • English: guile

References

  • Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (guile)
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