'sleight' originates from Middle English, specifically the word 'sleyght', where it meant 'cunning' or 'skill'.

'sleight' changed from Old Norse words such as 'slœgð'/'slœgr' (meaning 'slyness, cunning') into Middle English 'sleyght' and eventually became the modern English word 'sleight', later forming the phrase 'sleight of hand'.

Initially, it meant 'slyness' or 'cunning', but over time it evolved to emphasize 'skill'—particularly skill of the hands—and acquired the additional sense of 'deceptive trickery' in the phrase 'sleight of hand'.