canny
Adjective Satellite
- showing self-interest and shrewdness in dealing with others
Adj
- Careful, prudent, cautious.
- Knowing, shrewd, astute.
- Frugal, thrifty.
- Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable; (sometimes) funny.
- Gentle, quiet, steady.
- Sounding as if it is coming through a tin can.
Adv
- Very, considerably; quite, rather.
- Gently, quietly; carefully, skilfully.
Adjective
- Having shrewdness, caution, and good judgment; astute.
Examples
- a canny horse
- a canny long journey
- A CANNY Scrabble player always considers blocking possibilities for their opponent.
- Be canny with this letter.
- canny investments
- canny near home
- drive canny
- he sits very canny
- She’s a canny lass hor like!
- That’s a canny big horse, man!
- The canny lawyer knew just how to get what he wanted.
- The politician gave a canny response to the reporter’s questions.
Origin / Etymology
Northern English dialect, from can (“to know”) ( + -y), from Middle English can, first and third person singular of cunnen, connen (“to be able, know how to”), from Old English cunnan (“to know how to, be able to”). Compare Scots canny, English cunny, Old English cann (“knowledge, assertion”). More at can, cunning.
Synonyms
cagey, cagy, clever, abstemious, canny, chary, cheap, close with a buck, economical, frugal, husbandly, huswifely, parsimonious, penny-pinching, prudent, spareful, sparing, spary, thrifty, tight, tightwad
Scrabble Score: 10
canny: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordcanny: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
canny: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary