canny

[ kan-ee ]

/ ˈkæn i /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR canny ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective, can·ni·er, can·ni·est.

careful; cautious; prudent: a canny reply.

astute; shrewd; knowing; sagacious: a canny negotiator.

skilled; expert.

frugal; thrifty: a canny housewife.

Scot.

safe to deal with, invest in, or work at (usually used with a negative).
gentle; careful; steady.
snug; cozy; comfortable.
pleasing; attractive.
Archaic. having supernatural or occult powers.

adverb Also can·ni·ly.

in a canny manner.

Scot. carefully; cautiously.

Nearby words

cannot, cannula, cannular, cannulate, cannulation, canny, canoas, canoe, canoe birch, canoe slalom, canoewood

Origin of canny

First recorded in 1630–40; can¹ + -y¹

Related forms

can·ni·ness, nouno·ver·can·ny, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for canny

Ever canny if uninspiring, John Boehner admitted as much in his recent remarks.
What Republicans Need Right Now Is a Good Internal Fight|James Poulos|November 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But he was a canny political operator, far less ideological and more coldly pragmatic than proponents liked to admit.
From The Square Deal to The New Deal: The Overlapping Political Identities of TR and FDR|John Avlon|September 9, 2014|DAILY BEAST
A wavering, but canny Wehrmacht General Dietrich von Choltitz finally surrendered it on August 25.
Who Liberated Paris in August 1944?||August 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
That is admirable, and Preserve is clever, or at least canny.
Blake Lively Gets Her GOOP On|Tim Teeman|July 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

All of it is so canny we can only wonder why no one had said these things before.
Geoff Dyer at Sea: Unmoored but on Target|Melissa Holbrook Pierson|May 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Said the goodwife, "Aoirig, poor woman, it is not the hour for ancient old sgeuls; be thinking of a canny going."
The Lost Pibroch|Neil Munro
He felt, like the washerwomen, that there was something not canny about this Doo.
The Scottish Fairy Book|Elizabeth W. Grierson
The canny young Scot thought of a coming legacy and obeyed the head of his clan.
A Fascinating Traitor|Richard Henry Savage
It was "no' canny" that this old man, with a cauld in his chest, had gone up full two days before and had not come down again.
Greyfriars Bobby|Eleanor Atkinson
Out of his canny Scotch-English corner of thought, he is sadly lost.
Continental Monthly, Vol. I, No. V, May, 1862|Various

British Dictionary definitions for canny

canny

/ (ˈkænɪ) /

adjective -nier or -niest

shrewd, esp in business; astute or wary; knowing

Scot and Northeast English dialect good or nice: used as a general term of approval

Scot lucky or fortunate

adverb

Scot and Northeast English dialect quite; rathera canny long while

Derived Forms

cannily, adverbcanniness, noun

Word Origin for canny

C16: from can 1 (in the sense: to know how) + -y 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012