furbo
adjective, nounColloquial
An Italian slang term. Browse all Italian slang.
What it means
Cunning, sly, quick to spot an angle. Admiring and disapproving at once — the furbo gets away with things, and Italians are ambivalent about whether that is a virtue.
Fare il furbo: to try it on, to game the system.
Examples with translations
Non fare il furbo con me.
Don't try it on with me.
È troppo furbo per cascarci.
He's too shrewd to fall for that.
Where it comes from
furbizia — the quality of being furbo — is a recurring theme in Italian self-description and satire, generally as a national failing that everyone privately admires.
Other forms
- Similar terms:
- astuto, sveglio