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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

canny.

Careful, prudent, cautious.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈkæni/

  1. Careful, prudent, cautious.

    The politician gave a canny response to the reporter’s questions.

  2. Knowing, shrewd, astute.

    The canny lawyer knew just how to get what he wanted.

  3. Frugal, thrifty.

    canny investments

  4. Friendly, pleasant, fair, agreeable; (sometimes) funny.

    Northumbria · Scotland
    She’s a canny lass hor like!

  5. Gentle, quiet, steady.

    Northumbria · Scotland
    a canny horse
    Be canny with this letter.
Where this word comes from

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.

adv/ˈkæni/

  1. Very, considerably; quite, rather.

    Northumbria · not-comparable
    a canny long journey
    canny near home

  2. Gently, quietly; carefully, skilfully.

    Northumbria · Scotland · not-comparable
    he sits very canny
    drive canny
Where this word comes from

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.

adj/ˈkæni/

  1. Natural, normal.

    proscribed
Where this word comes from

Back-formation from uncanny.

adj/ˈkæni/

  1. Sounding as if it is coming through a tin can.

    especially
Where this word comes from

can (“more or less cylindrical metal container”) + -y

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.