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Origin and history of guile

guile(n.)

mid-12c., from Old French guile "deceit, wile, fraud, ruse, trickery," probably from Frankish *wigila "trick, ruse" or a related Germanic source; according to Watkins, from Proto-Germanic *wih-l- (source also of Old Frisian wigila "sorcery, witchcraft," Old English wig "idol," Gothic weihs "holy," German weihen "consecrate"), from PIE root *weik- (2) "consecrated, holy."

also from mid-12c.

Entries linking to guile

beguile(v.)

"delude by artifice," early 13c., from be- + guile (v.). The meaning "entertain with pastimes" is by 1580s (compare the sense evolution of amuse). Related: Beguiled; beguiling.

guileful(adj.)

c. 1300, from guile + -ful. Nowadays only in poems and dictionaries. Related: Guilefully; guilefulness.

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craft
Old English cræft (West Saxon, Northumbrian), -creft (Kentish), "power, physical strength, might," from Proto-Germanic *krab-/*kraf- (source also of Old Frisian kreft, Old High German chraft, German Kraft "strength, skill;" Old Norse kraptr "strength, virtue"). The ultimate etymo
cunning
early 14c., conning, "learned, skillful, possessing knowledge," present participle of connen, cunnen "to know," from Old English cunnan (see can (v.1)), from PIE root *gno- "to know." Also compare cun (v.). Sense of "skillfully deceitful, characterized by crafty ingenuity" is pro
chicanery
c. 1610s, "legal quibbling, sophistry, mean or petty tricks," from French chicanerie "trickery," from chicaner "to pettifog, quibble" (15c.), which is of unknown origin, perhaps from Middle Low German schikken "to arrange, bring about," or from the name of a golf-like game once p
sedulous
"sincerely, diligently," from sedolo "without deception or guile," from se- "without, apart" (see se-) + dolo, ablative of...dolus "deception, guile, unlawful intention," which is cognate with Greek dolos "ruse, snare."...
subtlety
From late 14c. as "cleverness, shrewdness; trickery, guile, craftiness," also "thinness, slenderness, smallness; rarity."...
childlike
approbation, or at least does not merit disapproval, and the latter usually to that which is not: as, a childlike freedom from guile...
quaint
"wisdom, knowledge," also "guile, cunning, deceit" (c. 1300)....
perspicacity
"state or character of being perspicacious; keenness of sight, clearness of understanding," 1540s, from French perspicacité (15c.) and directly from Late Latin perspicacitas "sharp-sightedness, discernment," from Latin perspicax "sharp-sighted, having the power of seeing through,
deception
early 15c., decepcioun, "act of misleading, a lie, a falsehood," from Old French déception (13c., decepcion) or directly from Late Latin deceptionem (nominative deceptio) "a deceiving," noun of state or action from past-participle stem of Latin decipere "to ensnare, take in, begu
chicane
a word used in English in various senses, including "act of chicanery, art of gaining advantage by using evasions or cheating tricks" (1670s), also "obstacles on a roadway" (by 1935), also a term in bridge (1880s), apparently all ultimately from an archaic verb chicane "to trick"

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