Wordul · all words

adverb · 2 syllables · /'kɔɪ.li/

COYLY

What does "COYLY" mean?

In a shy, playfully evasive, or affectedly modest manner.

Meanings

  1. In a manner that is bashful, teasingly reticent, or pretending reluctance. She smiled coyly and refused to say who had sent the flowers.

Did you know?

  • 'Coy' began as a word for 'quiet' or 'still': it shares a root with 'quiet', from Latin 'quietus', before drifting to mean bashfully reserved.

Word origin

Adverb of 'coy', from Old French 'coi' / 'quei' (quiet, still), from Latin 'quietus' (at rest) - the same root as 'quiet' - originally meaning calm before it came to mean shyly demure.

Remember it

COYLY hides COY + the L of a sly smile - someone keeping quiet, holding the secret just out of reach.

A little poem

She turned the question with a half-told grin-
the answer kept just out, the wanting in.

couplet

What it teaches

Withholding a little can hold attention longer than telling all at once.

Quick facts

What does COYLY mean?

In a shy, playfully evasive, or affectedly modest manner.

Is COYLY a valid word?

Yes — COYLY is one of the answer words in Wordul, the daily word game.

How many letters is COYLY?

COYLY has 5 letters and 2 syllables.

Where does COYLY come from?

Adverb of 'coy', from Old French 'coi' / 'quei' (quiet, still), from Latin 'quietus' (at rest) - the same root as 'quiet' - originally meaning calm before it came to mean shyly demure.

What can COYLY teach us?

Withholding a little can hold attention longer than telling all at once.

How players do

Be the first to solve it.

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