different between cunning vs corny

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?n??
• IPA^(key): /?k?n??/

Etymology 1

From Middle English cunning, kunning, konnyng, alteration of earlier Middle English cunninde, kunnende, cunnand, from Old English cunnende, present participle of cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”), equivalent to con +? -ing. Cognate with Scots cunnand (“cunning”), German könnend (“able to do”), Icelandic kunnandi (“cunning”). More at con, can.

Adjective

cunning (comparative more cunning, superlative most cunning)

1. Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

   • They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.

2. (obsolete) Skillful, artful.

   • Esau was a cunning hunter.

   • a cunning workman
3. (obsolete) Wrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious.

   cunning work
4. (US, colloquial, dated, New England) Cute, appealing.

   a cunning little boy

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:wily

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English cunning, kunnyng, partially from Old English *cunning (verbal noun), from Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”); partially from Old English cunnung (“knowledge, trial, probation, experience, contact, carnal knowledge”), from cunnian (“to search into, try, test, seek for, explore, investigate, experience, have experience of, to make trial of, know”), equivalent to con +? -ing.

Noun

cunning (countable and uncountable, plural cunnings)

1. Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
   • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 236d.

     indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.

2. Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit; art or magic.
   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III scene ii^[1]:

     Caliban: As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.

3. The disposition to employ one's skill in an artful manner; craftiness; guile; artifice; skill of being cunning, sly, conniving, or deceitful.
4. The natural wit or instincts of an animal.

   the cunning of the fox or hare

5. (obsolete) Knowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).

Synonyms

• craftiness
• foxship
• list

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k??ni/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??ni/
• Rhymes: -??(?)ni

Etymology 1

From Middle English corny, equivalent to corn +? -y. In the "hackneyed" sense, from "corn catalogue jokes", reputedly low-quality jokes that were formerly printed in mail-order seed catalogues.

Adjective

corny (comparative cornier, superlative corniest)

1. Boring and unoriginal.

2. Hackneyed or excessively sentimental.

3. (obsolete) Producing corn or grain; furnished with grains of corn.
   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Solomon on the Vanity of the World

     The corny ear.

4. Containing corn; tasting well of malt.

   • A draughte of moyste and corny ale.

5. (obsolete, Britain, slang) tipsy; drunk

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Forby to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (hackneyed or excessively sentimental): kitsch, kitschy, cheesy, tacky, campy, schlocky, schmaltzy
• (drunk): drunkish, squiffy; see Thesaurus:drunk

Translations

Etymology 2

Latin cornu (“horn”).

Adjective

corny (comparative more corny, superlative most corny)

1. (obsolete) Strong, stiff, or hard, like a horn; resembling horn.

Anagrams

• Conry, crony, croyn, cry on

Middle English

Etymology

From corn +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?k?rni?/, /?k??rni?/

Adjective

corny

1. (rare) fleshy, swollen
2. (rare) malty; tasting of malt.
3. (rare) Resembling a grain.

Descendants

• English: corny
• Scots: cornie (obsolete, rare)
• >? Yola: cornee

References

• “c??rn?, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-08.