different between cunning vs cun

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

Etymology 1

From Middle English cunnen, connen, from Old English cunnan (“to know, know how (to)”), from Proto-Germanic *kunnan? (“to know”). Doublet of con.

Verb

cun (third-person singular simple present cuns, present participle cunning, simple past and past participle cunned)

1. (obsolete) To know.

Related terms

• cunning

Etymology 2

See conn, cond.

Verb

cun (third-person singular simple present cuns, present participle cunning, simple past and past participle cunned)

1. Alternative form of conn (“direct or steer a ship”)

Etymology 3

From Chinese ?.

Alternative forms

• tsun

Noun

cun (plural cuns or cun)

1. A traditional Chinese unit of length, originally the width of a person's thumb at the knuckle.

Anagrams

• NUC, UNC, nuc, unc

Azerbaijani

Noun

cun (definite accusative cunu, plural cunlar)

1. (Quba) thorn

   Synonym: tikan

Declension

Further reading

• “cun” in Obastan.com.

Dalmatian

Alternative forms

• kun, cuon, kuon

Etymology

From Latin canis, canem.

Noun

cun m

1. dog

Friulian

Alternative forms

• cu

Etymology

From Latin cum.

Preposition

cun

1. with

Galician

Etymology

From contraction of preposition con (“with”) + masculine article un (“a”)

Contraction

cun m (feminine cunha, masculine plural cuns, feminine plural cunhas)

1. with a, with one

Further reading

• “cun, cunha” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Istriot

Alternative forms

• cu’ (apocopic)
• con

Etymology

From Latin cum.

Preposition

cun

1. with
   • 1877, Antonio Ive, Canti popolari istriani: raccolti a Rovigno, volume 5, Ermanno Loescher, page 128:

     Caro, cun quil visito bianco e russo.

     Dear, with that little white and red face.

Ladin

Etymology

From Latin cum.

Preposition

cun

1. (Gherdëina) with
2. (Badia) Alternative form of con

Leonese

Etymology

From Latin cum (“with”), from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”).

Preposition

cun

1. with

Usage notes

When followed by an article, cun is combined with the next word to give the following combined forms:

• ?cun + ?el ? ?cul
• ?cun + ?la ? ?cuna
• ?cun + ?lu ? ?cunu
• ?cun + ?los ? ?cunos
• ?cun + ?las ? ?cunas

References

• AEDLL

Mandarin

Romanization

cun

1. Nonstandard spelling of c?n.
2. Nonstandard spelling of cún.
3. Nonstandard spelling of c?n.
4. Nonstandard spelling of cùn.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Mirandese

Etymology

From Latin cum.

Preposition

cun

1. with

Sardinian

Etymology

From Latin cum (“with”), from Proto-Italic *kom, from Proto-Indo-European *?óm (“next to, at, with, along”). Compare Italian con, Portuguese com, Spanish con, Romanian cu, Sicilian cu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kun/

Preposition

cun

1. with

Somali

Verb

cun

1. eat