Wily

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
William A Hupy
Lexiterian
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Joined: Tue May 05, 2020 8:53 am

Wily

Postby William A Hupy » Tue Nov 30, 2021 5:33 pm

Thoughts anyone on origin? All possible leads appear to be conjecture.

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Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
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Re: Wily

Postby Slava » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:58 pm

Here are two options:

https://www.etymonline.com/word/wile and https://etymologeek.com/eng/wile

The second one introduced me to 'wily beguily', so I looked it up. I expected it to be an intensified way of saying super sneaky, but it turns out to mean someone who is caught in their own wiles. They outwiled themselves, that is to say.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.


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