Meaning

noun shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception

noun the quality of being crafty

noun the use of tricks to deceive someone (usually to extract money from them)

originFrom Middle English gile, from Anglo-Norman gile, from Old French guile (“deception”), from Frankish *wīl (“ruse”), from Proto-Germanic *wīlą, from Proto-Indo-European *wey- (“to turn, bend”). Cognate via Proto-Germanic with wile.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0