Where does “cannily” come from?
cannily (English) comes from English canny, from English uncanny, from English un-, from Middle English un-, from Old English un-, from Proto-West Germanic un-, from Proto-Germanic un-, from Proto-Indo-European n̥- — not.
cannily (English): In a canny manner
Ancestry of “cannily”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | English | canny | Careful, prudent, cautious; Knowing, shrewd,... |
| 2 | English | uncanny | Strange, and mysteriously unsettling ; weird;... |
| 3 | English | un- | not; absent; lacking; not; negative; contrary to... |
| 4 | Middle English | un- | — |
| 5 | Old English | un- | negation or absence of: un-, non-; bad; forms... |
| 6 | Proto-West Germanic | un- | not, un- |
| 7 | Proto-Germanic | un- | not, un- |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | n̥- | not, un- |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | ne | not |