English

guileful

Guileful comes from Middle English gileful.

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

Formed from guile + -ful

Proto-Indo-European *wey- ‘to turn, bend’

…

Frankish *wīl ‘ruse’

Old French guile ‘deception’

Anglo-Norman gile

Middle English gile

English guile

Every English word from Middle English gileful

adj Full of guile; treacherously deceptive.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.