cunningly
adverb
cunningly is spelled C-U-N-N-I-N-G-L-Y: 9 letters. It appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,894th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adverb, cunningly means “With cunning, cleverly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in cunningly?
| Letters | 9: C-U-N-N-I-N-G-L-Y |
|---|---|
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words; the 62,894th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is cunningly?
Cunningly appears about once in every 4 million words in written English, the 62,894th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce cunningly?
- US
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Flame,_not_lame-cunningly.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of cunningly
- more cunningly comparative
- most cunningly superlative
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does cunningly mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adverb
- 1
With cunning, cleverly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Cunningly in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense with cunning, cleverly:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | astucieusement, ingénieusement, d'une manière rusée |
| German | schlau |
| Portuguese | astuciosamente, destramente |
| Spanish | astutamente, arteramente |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does cunningly come from?
From cunning + -ly.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).