What does sly in Spanish mean?

What is the meaning of the word sly in Spanish? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use sly in Spanish.

The word sly in Spanish means taimado/a, malicioso/a, astuto/a, furtivo/a, ladino como un zorro, a escondidas, viejo zorro. To learn more, please see the details below.

Listen to pronunciation

Meaning of the word sly

taimado/a

adjective (person: deceiving)

(adjetivo: Describe el sustantivo. Puede ser posesivo, numeral, demostrativo ("casa grande", "mujer alta").)
Julia is so sly; she says one thing to my face and another behind my back.
Julia es muy taimada: a la cara me dice una cosa, pero a mis espaldas va diciendo otra.

malicioso/a

adjective (mischievous, playful)

(adjetivo: Describe el sustantivo. Puede ser posesivo, numeral, demostrativo ("casa grande", "mujer alta").)
Patrick gave Martha a sly wink as he hid the boss's favourite pen.
Patrick le dedicó un guiño malicioso a Martha mientras escondía el boli favorito del jefe.

astuto/a

adjective (smart)

(adjetivo: Describe el sustantivo. Puede ser posesivo, numeral, demostrativo ("casa grande", "mujer alta").)
That was a sly move; you got just what you wanted.
Fue un movimiento muy astuto. Conseguiste justo lo que querías.

furtivo/a

adjective (furtive)

(adjetivo: Describe el sustantivo. Puede ser posesivo, numeral, demostrativo ("casa grande", "mujer alta").)
As Don prattled on, Ruby cast a sly glance at her watch.

ladino como un zorro

adjective (devious, cunning) (fam)

(locución adjetiva: Unidad léxica estable formada de dos o más palabras que funciona como adjetivo ("de fácil manejo", "a contraluz", "de fiar").)
Reynard was as sly as a fox as he wheedled his way into the hen house.
ⓘEsta oración no es una traducción de la original. No me inspira confianza, ese tipo es ladino como un zorro y taimado como una hiena.

a escondidas

adverb (informal (secretly)

(locución adverbial: Unidad léxica estable formada de dos o más palabras que funciona como adverbio ("en vilo", "de seguido", "a quemarropa").)
He spent a lot of his career playing computer games on the sly.
Pasó gran parte de su carrera jugando videojuegos a escondidas.

viejo zorro

noun (devious or secretive person) (figurado, astuto)

(locución nominal masculina: Unidad léxica estable formada de dos o más palabras que funciona como sustantivo masculino ("ojo de buey", "agua mala").)
I would never have guessed that about you, you sly old fox!
Nunca habría pensado eso de ti, ¡viejo zorro!

Let's learn Spanish

So now that you know more about the meaning of sly in Spanish, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Spanish.

Do you know about Spanish

Spanish (español), also known as Castilla, is a language of the Iberian-Romance group of the Romance languages, and the 4th most common language in the world according to Some sources, while others list it as a 2nd or 3rd most common language. It is the mother tongue of about 352 million people, and is spoken by 417 million people when adding its speakers as a language. sub (estimated in 1999). Spanish and Portuguese have very similar grammar and vocabulary; The number of similar vocabulary of these two languages is up to 89%. Spanish is the primary language of 20 countries around the world. It is estimated that the total number of speakers of Spanish is between 470 and 500 million, making it the second most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers.