Vulpine

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈvʌlpaɪn/

Definitions

1. Crafty and cunning in nature, resembling or characteristic of a fox in behavior or appearance
2. resembling or characteristic of a fox in cunning, slyness, or physical features
3. of or relating to foxes, or showing the deceptive and shrewd qualities traditionally associated with them

Etymology: Latin "vulpēs" meant "fox," and the adjective "vulpīnus" extended that into "fox-like." English borrowed the adjective directly, so "vulpine" carries the same animal sense it had in Rome: a creature's cunning, pointed face, and quick sidelong glance, long before it came to describe a person's sly manners. The Latin noun itself was once "volpēs," and it sits in a wide family of words for the fox across distant languages. Welsh has "llywarn," ancient Greek has "alṓpēx," and Sanskrit has "lopāśa," meaning jackal or fox. All of these trace back to a reconstructed Proto-Indo-European root, *wl(o)p-, meaning fox, which means the animal's name has been stable across thousands of years and many branches of the language family.

Synonyms: foxlike, sly