Shrewd, careful, and prudent in business or practical matters; wary and cautious.
From Scottish/Northern English dialect 'caw' meaning to drive or call, combined with '-ny' suffix. Related to 'canny' (careful), it evolved from Old Norse 'kenna' (to know). The spelling variant reflects regional pronunciation differences in British English.
This word shows how English has multiple spellings for 'canny' across regions—Scottish and Northern English speakers used 'cawny' while others said 'canny,' yet both meant the same thing. It's a linguistic fossil showing how merchants from different parts of Britain haggled with different accents!
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