- 1狡猾的；有心機的
If a person is crafty, they are good at getting what they want by clever planning, and by not showing the whole plan. They notice gaps. They wait. They may tell only part of the truth. People often say it with a half-smile — a crafty look, a crafty question — so it can feel almost fond, especially about children or animals in stories. It can also be a real warning: do not trust this person’s surface. It is ordinary spoken English, not a legal word and not a kind word if the person can hear it. Though actually, it is craft + -y, and in Old English cræftiġ it could mean , even strong or able. That older “full of skill” meaning is why still sounds like praise. Crafty kept the cleverness and slowly picked up the secret, slightly dishonest colour. So the student who meets arts and crafts first, then guesses that a crafty person is “good at making things,” has followed the letters — and missed how the word lives now. For making things, say , good with their hands, or call them a or .
From the word’s history
From Old English cræftiġ 'skilful, cunning'; craft + -y.
源自古英文 cræftiġ「靈巧、有本事」，即 craft（技藝）加 -y。
組成craft + -y. From Old English cræftiġ, “skilful; clever; powerful,” later the sneaky-clever sense. The -y means “full of / like that quality.”
同家族的字
- craftthe older ‘skill’ word; crafty is craft + -y, but the living meaning has slid toward trickery
- craftilythe adverb
- craftinessthe noun
- craftsmansame craft, different path: this one kept the ‘skilled maker’ meaning
原始詞典資料4 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
craftyadj/ˈkɹæfti/
- 1
Skillful at deceiving others.
- For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
- According to The State and Revolution, only an ignoramus or a crafty bourgeois could suggest that the workers are incapable of directly and collectively managing industry, the state, and the administration.
- 2
Sneaky; surreptitious.
- I took a crafty look at his hand of cards while he was out of the room.
- 3
Relating to, or characterized by, craft or skill; dexterous, clever.
- Make magazine, which celebrates “your right to tweak, hack and bend any technology to your own will,” has joined with the New York Hall of Science to gather more than 500 of the craftiest inventors, artists, technology enthusiasts, tinkerers and hobbyists to share their expertise.
- Can you envision a future Christmas where you print all your gifts instead of shop for them? It could soon be reality in even the most tech-averse household, and it might just end up saving the craftier among us lots of time and money. Why buy a $50 vase when you can print one for $2?
- 4
datedMagical or occult, or allegedly so.
- a crafty science
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。