the.com/cunning

means Skill in getting what you want through cleverness, craft, or sly indirection rather than brute force.

from From Middle English 'cunning,' originally just the present participle of 'cunnen' — 'to know' or 'to be able' — the same root that gave us 'can' and 'ken.' It once meant simple knowledge or skill, no shadiness implied; a 'cunning' craftsman was just a skilled one. Over time the word drifted toward its sharper, foxier sense — knowledge bent toward trickery — as if knowing too much how things work naturally slides into knowing how to work them.