canny
/ˈkæni/
canny adjective: careful, prudent, cautious.
Adjective (1)
canny (comparative cannier, superlative canniest)
- Careful, prudent, cautious.
- The politician gave a canny response to the reporter’s questions.
- O! as thou art bonny, be prudent and canny,1723-1737, Allan Ramsay, “Love Inviting Reason”, in The Tea-Table Miscellany
- Knowing, shrewd, astute.
- The canny lawyer knew just how to get what he wanted.
- ‘Paris Hilton is A-list. She’s a genuinely really big star,’ said Professor Robert Thompson, a popular culture expert at Syracuse University. She’s also a canny money-making machine.2005 May 8, Paul Harris, “How canny Paris turned into a global business brand”, in The Guardian
- Frugal, thrifty.
- canny investments
- Whate’er he wins, I’ll guide with canny care.1751, Allan Ramsay, “The Gentle Shepherd”, in Poems by Allan Ramsay, published 1751
- Synonyms:
- abstemious, chary, moderate, cheap, close with a buck, economic, economical, frugal, provident, husbandly
- Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable; (sometimes) funny.
- She’s a canny lass hor like!
- But gie me a cannie hour at e’en,
My arms about my dearie O;
An’ warl’y cares, an’ warl’y men,
Mae a’ gae tapsalteerie O!1783, Robert Burns, “Green Grow the Rashes O”, in Songs and Ballads
- Gentle, quiet, steady.
- a canny horse
- Be canny with this letter.
Adverb
canny (not comparable)
Adjective (2)
canny (comparative cannier, superlative canniest)
- Natural, normal.
- I should have been glad to be assured that she prayed when on her knees, or read when that book was before her; I should have felt that she was more canny and human.1865, Sheridan Le Fanu, Uncle Silas
- “Live here with a lot of blooming performing animals! No fear,” they said. “And ghosts too,” some added with a shudder. “That’s what those Dryads really are. It’s not canny.”1951, C. S. Lewis, Prince Caspian
Adjective (3)
canny
- Sounding as if it is coming through a tin can.
- The rear sounds sounded canny compared to the front ones. And you also have to adjust the volume so both pair of speakers are at the same level, […]1998 August 20, Kallel, Four speakers are a pain in the ass ;P, in 3dfx.products.voodoo2
- I am using the stereo outs, I am getting nice reverb out of it but the probelm^([sic]) is the entire sound is like i said like its coming through a can. even when in bypass mode it sound "canny".
Thank you for your input.
Stacey2000 October 17, Dreamin Man, “Lexicon MPX 100?”, in rec.audio.pro (Usenet)
Proper noun capitalized: Canny
Canny (plural Cannys)
- A surname.
canny meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
canny in Tamil
- விறல் படைத்த, சாமர்த்தியமான, சூழல் புரிந்து கொள்கிற, உலகியல் திறமைவாய்ந்த, கூரிய அறிவுள்ள, நற்பேறான
canny in Urdu
- عاقل, ذہین
canny in Malayalam
- astute, shrewd, smart
- സൂക്ഷ്മമുള്ള, സൂക്ഷ്മതയുള്ള, കൂർമ്മബുദ്ധിയുള്ള, സ്വക്ഷ, പ്രായോഗികവീക്ഷണമുള്ള, കൗശലമുള്ള
canny in Kannada
- ಸೂಟಿ, ಚೂಟಿ, ಚತುರ, ಕುಶಲ, ಚುರುಕು, ಸುಟಿ
Examples of canny in a sentence
- That’s a canny big horse, man!
- “Canny now, lads, canny now!” exclaimed old Mucklebackit, who acted as commodore; “swerve the yard a bit—Now—there! there she sits safe on dry land.”1816, [Walter Scott], The Antiquary. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald...
- Then again, in war, politics and life, it’s always wiser to treat your adversary as a canny fox, not a crazy fool.2022 March 29, Bret Stephens, “What if Putin Didn’t Miscalculate?”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
- But if you had seats way up at the sides or at the back I can understand that you could have experienced a "canny" sound.2001 October 8, Philippe, “Antwerp - what a disappointment !!!!”, in alt.music.depeche-mode (Usenet):
- Hear more low end, and slightly less canny sounding from what I can tell.2010 May 24, nm...@wt.net, “FlipHD Saturday SECTR5 LittleWing”, in alt.guitar (Usenet):
Synonyms of canny
10 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of canny
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | cannier |
| superlative | canniest |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Cannys |
Origin of canny
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.
Back-formation from uncanny.
can (“more or less cylindrical metal container”) + -y
Words formed from canny
Phrases with canny
Words that rhyme with canny
Questions about canny
- What does canny mean?
- Canny means careful, prudent, cautious.
- What is canny in Tamil?
- Canny in Tamil is விறல் படைத்த, சாமர்த்தியமான, சூழல் புரிந்து கொள்கிற. See Canny meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use canny in a sentence?
- That’s a canny big horse, man!
- What part of speech is canny?
- Canny can be an adjective, an adverb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce canny?
- Canny is pronounced /ˈkæni/.
Words near canny in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: canny (page history and authors); Canny (page history and authors); canny (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); canny (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); canny (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); canny (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-canny.wav.
Cite this entry: “canny.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/canny. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.