Etymograph

English

cunning

Cunning comes from Old English cunnan ‘to know how to, be able to’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵneh₃-1‘to know’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunnaną1‘to know, to be familiar with, to recognise’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnan2‘to know how to, be able to’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnende2present participle of cunnan
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunninde2
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunning2
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590cunning2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English cunnan
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English cunning
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VII: “Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵneh₃-Wiktionary, Old English cunnan‘to know’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunnanąWiktionary, Old English cunnan‘to know, to be familiar with, to recognise’reconstructed
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnanWiktionary, English cunning‘to know how to, be able to’
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnendeWiktionary, English cunningpresent participle of cunnan
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunnindeWiktionary, English cunning
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunningWiktionary, English cunning
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1590cunningWiktionary, English cunning. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1590, Edmund Spenser, Book II, Canto VII: “Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- ‘to know’

know, note, normal, notice, ignore, narrative, glory, recognize, recognition, noble, notion, keen, ignorant, cognitive, norm, diagnostic, notorious, notation, nobility, prognosis, narration, gnome, notoriety, cognition, notary, quaint, agnostic, connoisseur, incognito, canny, kith, gnosis, recognizance, annotate, cognizance, 88 more

through Proto-Germanic *kunnaną ‘to know, to be familiar with, to recognise’

keenly, uncouth, 5 more

through Old English cunnan ‘to know how to, be able to’

can, could, con, ken, canna, cun, 2 more

Another origin of cunning

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ǵneh₃-‘to recognise’root named by Wiktionary
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*kunnāną‘to get to know, to become familiar with’reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*kunnēn‘to get to know, become familiar with’reconstructed
  4. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnian‘to search into, try, test, seek for, explore, investigate, experience, have experience of’
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnung‘knowledge, trial, probation, experience, contact, carnal knowledge’
  6. Old Englishc. 450–1150cunnan‘to know how to, be able to’
  7. Old Englishc. 450–1150*cunningreconstructed
  8. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500cunning
  9. Englishtodaycunning

Today it means

adj Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “cunning”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English cunnan. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *ǵneh₃- / cunning

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