藏起來的機靈（人與計謀）
核心的兩層都在：真本事＋藏起來，而且用在別人身上。
sly, deceptive · adjective · C2
If a person is cunning, they are clever at hiding their plans and tricking people so they get what they want.
狡猾
核心畫面
A workable picture: someone who knows exactly how a thing works, and keeps that knowing to themselves. The know-how is real skill — it is the hiding that decides whether we admire it or distrust it. Picture a fox: not stronger than the dogs, just better at knowing where the gap in the fence is, and not telling.
一個人清清楚楚知道事情怎麼運作，而且不打算讓你知道他知道。這裡有兩層，缺一不可——底層是真本事（他真的懂門道），上層…更多收起
一個人清清楚楚知道事情怎麼運作，而且不打算讓你知道他知道。這裡有兩層，缺一不可——底層是真本事（他真的懂門道），上層是藏起來（他不攤開來說）。想像一隻狐狸：牠沒有比獵犬強壯，牠只是知道籬笆哪裡有個縫，而且不會告訴任何人。這就是為什麼 cunning 幾乎總是帶著涼意：那個「懂」是真的，令人不安的是他把它用在哪裡。也因為底層是「懂門道」，這個字偶爾會轉回純粹的讚美——當被誇的不是人而是一件做得極巧的東西時。From the word’s history
From Old English cunnan, "to know how to, be able to" — the same root that gives us can. Cunning originally meant simply skilled or knowledgeable, with no dishonesty at all; the modern sneaky flavour is a later narrowing of "knowing how" toward "knowing more than you let on".
這個字來自古英語 cunnan「知道怎麼做、有能力做」——就是今天 can 的同一個根。所以 cunning 本來完全是褒義的，意思只是「內行、有本事」，一點不誠實的味道都沒有。現在那層陰影是後來才長出來的：從「知道怎麼做」慢慢窄化成「知道的比他讓你看到的多」。知道這件事很有用，因為它解釋了為什麼「精巧的裝置」和「狡猾的人」會是同一個字——它們共用的是最底下那個「懂門道」。
Wiktionary, "cunning" (present participle of Old English cunnan "to know how to, be able to"; cf. can)
Two branches
純粹的巧（沒有陰影的那一半）
回到 cunnan「知道怎麼做」的原意；跟上面那一支共用「懂門道」，但沒有「瞞著你」那一層，所以不帶惡意。
cleverly made · adjective · C2
A cunning object or piece of equipment is clever and unusual in the way it is made.
精巧
原始詞典資料10 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，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。
Cunningname
- 1
A surname.
cunningadj詞源 1/ˈkʌnɪŋ/
- 1
Sly; crafty; clever in surreptitious behaviour.
- They are resolved to be cunning; let others run the hazard of being sincere.
- 2
obsoleteSkillful, artful.
- Esau was a cunning hunter.
- a cunning workman
- 3
obsoleteWrought with, or exhibiting, skill or ingenuity; ingenious.
- cunning work
- Over them Arachne high did lift / Her cunning web.
- 4
datedCute, appealing.
- everybody gives something to the cunning little boy; his eyes are large and soft, and he wears a pointed hat, and tight breeches, and jacket
- “I shan't mind that at all, I like the little house 'cause it's got a garden, and there's a cunning room with a three-cornered closet in it that I always wanted.[…]”
cunningnoun詞源 2/ˈkʌnɪŋ/
- 1
Practical knowledge or experience; aptitude in performance; skill, proficiency; dexterity.
- indeed at this very moment he's slipped away with the utmost cunning into a form that's most perplexing to investigate.
- 2
Practical skill employed in a secret or crafty manner; craft; artifice; skillful deceit; art or magic.
- Caliban: As I told thee before, I am subject to a tyrant, a sorcerer that by his cunning hath cheated me of the island.
- 3
The disposition to employ one's skill in an artful manner; craftiness; guile; artifice; skill of being cunning, sly, conniving, or deceitful.
- 4
The natural wit or instincts of an animal.
- the cunning of the fox or hare
- 5
obsoleteKnowledge; learning; special knowledge (sometimes implying occult or magical knowledge).
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。