silk

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

Old English sioloc, seolc. The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki, Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkaĩ), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, neuter of Latin sericus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (serikos), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭlk, IPA: /sɪlk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlk

Noun

silk (plural silks)

1. (uncountable) A fine fiber excreted by the silkworm or other arthropod (such as a spider).

   The silk thread was barely visible.

2. (uncountable) A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers.

   I had a small square of silk, but it wasn't enough to make what I wanted.

3. The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel.
4. (colloquial) A Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel.

Derived terms

Terms derived from silk

make a silk purse of a sow's ear silken

silky silkweaver silkweaving

silkworm smooth as silk take silk

Translations

fiber

• Arabic: حرير (ar) (Harīr) m
• Armenian: մետաքս (hy) (metak’s)
• Aromanian: mãtase (rup) f
• Asturian: seda (ast) f
• Basque: zeta (eu)
• Belarusian: шоўк (be) (šoŭk) m
• Bengali: please add this translation if you can
• Breton: seiz (br) m
• Bulgarian: коприна (bg) (koprina) f, (dated) свила (bg) (svíla) f
• Catalan: seda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 絲 (cmn), 丝 (cmn) (sī), 絲線 (cmn), 丝线 (cmn) (sīxiàn)

• Cornish: owrlin (kw) m
• Corsican: please add this translation if you can
• Czech: hedvábí (cs) n
• Dalmatian: saita f
• Danish: silke (da) c
• Dhivehi: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: zijde (nl) f
• Esperanto: silko (eo)
• Estonian: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: silkki (fi)
• French: soie (fr) f
• Friulian: sede f
• Galician: seda (gl) f, serda (gl) f
• Georgian: აბრეშუმი (ka) (abrešumi)
• German: Seide (de) f
• Greek: μέταξα (el) (métaxa) f, (colloquial) μετάξι (el) (metáxi) n
• Gujarati: રેશમ (gu) (reśam) n
• Hausa: please add this translation if you can
• Hebrew: משי (he) (mesi) m
• Hindi: रेशम (hi) (rēśam) m
• Hungarian: selyemszál (hu)
• Ido: silko (io)
• Indonesian: sutra (id)
• Interlingua: please add this translation if you can
• Interlingue: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: síoda (ga) m
• Italian: seta (it) f
• Japanese: 絹 (ja) (きぬ, kinu), 絹糸 (ja) (きぬいと, kinuito)
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can

• Khmer: សូត្រ (km) (soot)
• Korean: 명주 (ko) (myeongju) (明紬 (ko)), 비단 (ko) (bidan) (緋緞 (ko))
• Kurdish:

  Sorani: ئاوریشم (ku)

• Latin: sēricum (la) n
• Lithuanian: šilkas (lt)
• Macedonian: свила (mk) (svíla) f
• Manx: sheeidey (gv) m
• Mirandese: please add this translation if you can
• Occitan: seda (oc) f
• Oriya: ରେଶମ (or)
• Pashto: please add this translation if you can
• Persian: ابریشم (fa) (abrišam), حریر (fa) (harir)
• Polish: jedwab (pl) m
• Portuguese: seda (pt) f
• Romanian: mătase (ro) f
• Romansch: saida (rm) f, seida (rm) f, seda (rm) f
• Russian: шёлк (ru) (šolk) m
• Sardinian: seda (sc) f, sera (sc) f, seta (sc) f
• Scottish Gaelic: sìoda (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: свила (sh) f

  Roman: svila (sh) f

• Sicilian: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: hodváb (sk) m
• Slovene: svila (sl) f
• Somali: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: seda (es) f
• Swedish: silke (sv) n
• Tamil: பட்டு (ta) (paṭṭu)
• Telugu: పట్టు (te) (paṭṭu)
• Thai: ไหม (th) (măi)
• Turkish: ipek (tr)
• Turkmen: ýüpek (tk)
• Ukrainian: шовк (uk) (šovk) m
• Urdu: ریشم (ur) (rēśam) m
• Vietnamese: lụa (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: soye (wa) f
• Welsh: sidan (cy) m

fabric

• Arabic: حرير (ar) (Harīr) m
• Armenian: մետաքս (hy) (metak’s)
• Aromanian: mãtase (rm) f
• Asturian: seda (ast) f
• Burmese: ပိုး (my) (po:)
• Catalan: seda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 絲 (cmn), 丝 (cmn) (sī), 絲綢 (cmn), 丝绸 (cmn) (sīchóu)

• Czech: hedvábí (cs) n
• Dalmatian: saita f
• Dutch: zijde (nl) f, zijdedoek (nl) m
• Finnish: silkki (fi)
• French: soie (fr) f
• Friulian: sede f
• Galician: seda (gl) f, serda (gl) f
• German: Seide (de) f
• Greek: μετάξι (el) (metáxi) n
• Hungarian: selyem (hu)
• Irish: síoda (ga) m
• Japanese: 絹 (ja) (きぬ, kinu), 絹布 (ja) (けんぷ, kenpu), 絹地 (ja) (きぬじ, kinuji)
• Khmer: ព្រែ (km) (prɛɛ)
• Lithuanian: šilkas (lt) m

• Macedonian: свила (mk) (svíla) f
• Maltese: ħarir (mt) m
• Navajo: naakʼaʼatʼą́hí disǫsígíí
• Occitan: seda (oc) f
• Persian: پرند (fa) (parand), پرنیان (fa) (parniyân)
• Portuguese: seda (pt) f
• Romanian: mătase (ro) f
• Romansch: saida (rm) f, seida (rm) f, seda (rm) f
• Russian: шёлк (ru) (šolk) m
• Sardinian: seda (sc) f, sera (sc) f, seta (sc) f
• Scottish Gaelic: sìoda (gd) m, sròl (gd) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: свила (sh) f

  Roman: svila (sh) f

• Spanish: seda (es) f
• Swedish: siden (sv) n
• Taos: sédoną
• Telugu: పట్టు (te) (paṭṭu)
• Thai: ผ้าไหม (th) (pâa măi)
• Ukrainian: шовк (uk) (šovk) m
• Vietnamese: vải lụa (vi)

See also

• sericin

Adjective

silk (not comparable)

1. Made of silk.
   • 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 1/2, The Younger Set^[1]:

     It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue ; […] ; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau ; young men […], silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.

2. Looking like silk, silken.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, The China Governess^[2]:

     Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety.  She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.

Anagrams

• skil