Adjective
a canny card player, good at psyching out his opponents
warm and canny under the woolen bedcovers, we didn't mind the chilly Scottish nights
Recent Examples on the Web
Adjective
Anthropic’s Claude had that very morning given me canny insight into a personal matter.—Virginia Heffernan, WIRED, 17 Oct. 2024 Against that backdrop, Harris’s first economic promise—exempting tips from taxation—was canny.—Geoff Colvin, Fortune, 30 Sep. 2024 The book is filled with humor, canny allusion, beauty, and a profundity born of glimpsing fleeting human lives from the outside—through eyes that have seen epochs yet nonetheless remain befuddled.—The New Yorker, 30 Sep. 2024 Shaffer provided just enough to unleash the formidable arsenals of two canny veterans.—Charles McNulty, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for canny
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'canny.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Word History
Etymology
Adjective
originally Scots & regional northern English, going back to early Scots, "free from risk, sagacious, prudent, cautious," probably from can "ability" (noun derivative of cancan entry 1) + -y-y entry 1
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