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wile

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wile¹

  • /waɪl/

Sounds like while (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -aɪl

Where it comes from

From Middle English wile, wyle, from Old Northern French wile (“guile”) and Old English wīl (“wile, trick”) and wiġle (“divination”), from Proto-Germanic *wīlą (“craft, deceit”) (from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, bend”)) and Proto-Germanic *wigulą, *wihulą (“prophecy”) (from Proto-Indo-European *weyk- (“to consecrate, hallow, make holy”)). Cognate with Icelandic vél, væl (“artifice, craft, device, fraud, trick”), Dutch wijle. Doublet of guile.

noun wiles

  1. plural normally A trick or stratagem practiced for ensnaring or deception; a sly, insidious artifice He was seduced by her wiles.

    Similar: beguilement, allurement

verb wiles · wiling · wiled

  1. transitive To entice or lure. He was good to look on, brawly dressed, and with a tongue in his head that would have wiled the bird from the tree.

wile²

  • /waɪl/

Sounds like while (wine–whine merger) · Rhymes with -aɪl

Where it comes from

The phrase meaning to pass time idly is while away. We can trace the meaning in an adjectival sense for while back to Old English, hwīlen, "passing, transitory". It is also seen in whilend, "temporary, transitory". But since wile away occurs so often, it is now included in many dictionaries.

verb

  1. misspelling Misspelling of while (“to pass the time”). Here's a pleasant way to wile away the hours.

Wile³

Where it comes from

From Middle English wile, an occupational surname for a trapper or a nickname for a wily person.

proper noun

  1. A surname transferred from the nickname.
  2. rare A male given name transferred from the surname.

Translations

Every language

noun trick or stratagem

日本語策略 sakuryaku
中文詭計 /诡计 guǐjì, 計策 /计策 jìcè
Françaisruse, leurre
DeutschSchlich
Ελληνικάπονηριά poniriá, τέχνασμα téchnasma
Русскийуло́вка ulóvka, хи́трость xítrostʹ, ухищре́ние uxiščrénije, трюк trjuk

verb to pass the time

Françaistuer le temps

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Cite this
MLA

"wile." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/wile. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

wile. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/wile

Chicago

"wile." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/wile.

BibTeX
@misc{wile_2026,
  title = {wile},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/wile},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}