sleight

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   skillful use of the hands, especially in performing tricks

   The magician's sleight made the coin disappear.

2. 2
   noun

   a clever trick or deceptive artifice

   The argument depended on a sleight of wording.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Sleight entered English in the Middle Ages from the same Old Norse source as sly, slœgr, meaning “cunning.” Its sense passed from “cunning” to “sleight of hand” in the late 16th century.

From Middle English sleighte, sleyght, sleythe, from Old Norse slœgð (“cunning”), from Proto-Germanic *slōgiþō, from *slōgiz (“cunning”) (whence English sly). Doublet of sly and slöjd/sloyd.

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