English → Latin
“cunning” in Latin
ā̆stūtiacunning, craftiness, cleverness, shrewdness (adeptness at using tricks); subtlety; a cunning trick, stratagemcalliditāsshrewdness, readiness, aptness; skill, skilfulness; cunning, craft, slyness, artfulnessversūtiacunning, slyness, craftinesscōnsiliumplan, intention, design, purpose; counsel, advice; determination, resolve, resolutiondolorpain, ache, hurt; anguish, grief, sorrow; indignation, resentment, anger, fury, vengeancearsart, skill, craft, handicraft; trade, occupation, employment; cunning, artifice, fraud, stratagemartificiumart, craft, skill, talent, artifice, craftsmanship; profession, trade, an employmentdexteritāsdexterity, aptness, readiness; prosperity, felicitysollersskilled, skilful, clever, dexterous, adroit, expert; ingenious, sagacious, clever, intelligent, inventiveā̆stūtuscrafty, cunning, shrewd, clever, tricksy (adept at using tricks)
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
cunning s.
astutia. calliditas (clever cunning, astut. as natural quality; calliditas, as acquired by practice): versutia (the cunning that is fertile in expedients): vafrities (trickiness; especially in legal affairs): consilium, callidum inventum (a shrewd or subtle design, cunning, as single act; astus hardly belongs to the prose of the Golden Age): dolus (a subtle or cunning design or plot, for the purpose of defrauding or deceiving anybody): ars: artificium (a trick): to allow one’s self to be deceived by anybody’s cunning, arte or dolo capi, falli: to have recourse to cunning, arte uti, against anything, adversus aliquid (e.g., vim); dolum commoliri: to have recourse to cunning in deceiving anybody, dolum intendere ad aliquem fallendum. [Vid. DECEIT, FRAUD].
Art, skill, ars: dexteritas: solertia: ingenii dexteritas: peritia alicujus rei. Vid: SKILL.
cunning adj.
Crafty, astutus; callidus; versutus; vafer; dolosus [SYN. in CUNNING, subst.] : veterator (of a person who, from practice, is versed in all sorts of trickery). (The words are found in this connection and order.) callidus et astutus; astutus et callidus; versutus et callidus; veterator et callidus callidus et acutus ad fraudem: subdolus (deceitful, with cunning) [Vid: DECEITFUL.]
Knowing, peritus (usu): usu atque exercitatione praeditus (having experience): expertus; callidus; peritus alicujus rei: gnarus alicujus rei; exercitatus, versatus in aliqua re; instructus; sollers; habilis; dexter [SYN. in SKILLFUL].
A cunning woman, hariola: vates (fortune-teller).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for cunning?
- The usual Latin words for “cunning” are ā̆stūtia, calliditās, versūtia; also cōnsilium, dolor, ars. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.