different between cunning vs underhand

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

under +? hand

Pronunciation

• enPR: ?n?d?(r)-(h)?nd', IPA^(key): /??n.d?(?)?(h)ænd/
• Rhymes: -ænd
• Hyphenation: un?der?hand

Adjective

underhand (comparative more underhand, superlative most underhand)

1. secret; clandestine
2. (by extension) dishonest and sneaky; done in a secret or sly manner
3. (in various ball games, of a ball) thrown (etc.) with the hand brought forward and up from below

Synonyms

• (all): underhanded
• (ball games): underarm

Translations

Adverb

underhand (comparative more underhand, superlative most underhand)

1. with an underhand movement
2. in a sly, sneaky or secret manner

Synonyms

• (in a secret manner): underhandedly

Translations

Verb

underhand (third-person singular simple present underhands, present participle underhanding, simple past and past participle underhanded)

1. To toss or lob with an underhand movement.
2. To trick, deceive or gull.
3. (mining) To excavate downward in successive steps or horizontal slices while positioned above on unbroken ore.

Noun

underhand (plural underhands)

1. (textiles) The lower of two hands, the hand under the work.

   Your underhand should be entirely under the quilt.

Anagrams

• unharden'd