Craeft

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Old English word for skill, art or expertise in making things, especially a trade or manual ability ; cleverness used to deceive or outwit others
2. A learned ability or artistic talent in some practical work ; sly cunning, or the shrewd trickery used to gain an advantage
3. Expertise gained through practice in a skilled occupation ; wily cleverness, often turned toward deception and scheming

Etymology: Old English "cræft" meant strength, skill, or power, and it is one of the words that gave us "craft" in its modern sense. Its earliest recorded uses cover a wide range: physical might, mental ability, and skill in a trade, all in the same word. Over the centuries the sense of physical power faded, while the idea of skilled making stayed and spread to cover trades, guilds, and eventually deceit, as in "crafty." The word is Germanic and goes back to a common ancestor shared with German "Kraft," which still means strength or force. Old English also used "cræft" for learning and knowledge, so a scholar's learning and a smith's skill were once described by the same term. Forms with the sense of cunning or trickery appear in English later, and the modern "craft" of boats and aircraft, as in aircraft, is a later extension of the trade sense.