Shifty

Shifty

Adjective · /ˈʃɪfti/ · appearing deceitful or evasive

Definition

Shifty describes a person who appears untrustworthy, deceitful, or evasive — someone whose eyes dart around, whose story keeps changing, or whose manner suggests they are hiding something. It can also describe actions or schemes: a shifty manoeuvre is one carried out with crafty indirectness. The word has a slightly informal, colloquial feel and is more often spoken than written in formal contexts.

Origin

Shifty derives from the verb shift, which in Old English (sciftan) meant to arrange or divide, and later developed meanings of moving, changing, and manoeuvring. By the sixteenth century, shift could mean a trick or stratagem — a way of getting around a problem by indirect means. A shifty person is therefore someone full of shifts — full of dodges, tricks, and manoeuvres. The suffix -y converts the noun into an adjective carrying a negative, suspicious connotation.