---
title: cunning — Early Modern English dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «cunning» in the Early Modern English dictionary: Clever with the hands or mind, or clever at tricking people. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# cunning

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**Who acts:** boys, Esau, Jacob, He · **What happens:** trick, grow, be, dwell, try, get out · **To what, where:** people, cunning hunter, quiet man, tents

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«cunning» in the Early Modern English dictionary: its meaning for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [cunning in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/cunning.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Clever with the hands or mind, or clever at tricking people.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:cunning:m1:1
# text = Clever with the hands or mind, or clever at tricking people.
1	Clever	clever	ADV	RB	_	4	advmod	_	_
2	with	with	ADP	IN	_	4	case	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	hands	hand	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
5	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	6	cc	_	_
6	mind	mind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
7	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	9	punct	_	_
8	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	9	cc	_	_
9	clever	clever	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	conj	_	_
10	at	at	SCONJ	IN	_	11	mark	_	_
11	tricking	trick	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	9	advcl	_	_
12	people	people	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	11	obj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **trick** | gerund |  | people |  |  |  |  | vn trick-59.2 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent people=Patient |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.

<!-- .note -->
From Torah GEN.25.27, JPS 1917.

<!-- fold The tree, 24 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:cunning:x1:1
# text = And the boys grew; and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a quiet man, dwelling in tents.
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	4	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	3	det	_	_
3	boys	boy	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nsubj	_	_
4	grew	grow	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	;	;	PUNCT	:	_	11	punct	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	Esau	Esau	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	11	nsubj	_	_
8	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	11	cop	_	_
9	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
10	cunning	cunning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	compound	_	_
11	hunter	hunter	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	14	punct	_	_
13	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	14	det	_	_
14	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
15	of	of	ADP	IN	_	17	case	_	_
16	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	17	det	_	_
17	field	field	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	14	nmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
18	;	;	PUNCT	,	_	24	punct	_	_
19	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	24	cc	_	_
20	Jacob	Jacob	PROPN	NNP	Number=Sing	24	nsubj	_	_
21	was	be	AUX	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	24	cop	_	_
22	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	24	det	_	_
23	quiet	quiet	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	24	amod	_	_
24	man	man	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	4	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
25	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	26	punct	_	_
26	dwelling	dwell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	4	advcl	_	_
27	in	in	ADP	IN	_	28	case	_	_
28	tents	tent	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	26	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
29	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	4	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | past | the boys |  |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **is a** | past | Esau | a cunning hunter and a man of the field |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **is a** | past | Jacob | a quiet man |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 4 | **dwell** | gerund | the boys *not said here* |  |  | tents |  |  | vn exist-47.1 «NP V PP.location»: agent=Theme in tent=Location |

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
“He is very old and very cunning.

<!-- .note -->
From The Jungle Book.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:cunning:x2:1
# text = “He is very old and very cunning.
1	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	5	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	He	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
3	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	cop	_	_
4	very	very	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	old	old	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	8	cc	_	_
7	very	very	ADV	RB	_	8	advmod	_	_
8	cunning	cunning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	5	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is** *in a quote* | present | He |  |  |  |  | old *property* | tree rules |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Then he tried to get out by cunning.

<!-- .note -->
From The Arabian Nights Entertainments.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:emode:cunning:x3:1
# text = Then he tried to get out by cunning.
1	Then	then	ADV	RB	PronType=Dem	3	advmod	_	_
2	he	he	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Masc|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	3	nsubj	_	_
3	tried	try	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
4	to	to	PART	TO	_	5	mark	_	_
5	get	get	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	3	xcomp	_	_
6	out	out	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
7	by	by	ADP	IN	_	8	case	_	_
8	cunning	cunning	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	3	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **try** | past | he |  |  |  | then |  | vn try-61.1 «NP V S\_INF»: agent=Agent clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **get out** *not said to happen* | to-infinitive | he *not said here* |  |  |  |  | by cunning; out *property* | vn withdraw-82-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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**Text:** the Early Modern English dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova; its examples quote public-domain texts. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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