silken

English

Etymology

From Middle English silken, selken, seolkene, from Old English seolcen, equivalent to silk +‎ -en (“made of”). Cognate with Scots selkin, silkin (“silken”), Icelandic silki (“silken”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlkən/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlkən
• Hyphenation: silk‧en

Adjective

silken (not comparable)

1. Made of silk.

   a silken veil

2. Having a smooth, soft, or light texture, like that of silk; suggestive of silk.
   • 1646, Richard Crashaw, “Vpon Mr. Staninough’s Death” in Steps to the Temple: Sacred Poems, with Other Delights of the Muses, London: Humphrey Moseley, p. 40,^[1]

     Come then youth, Beauty, and Blood, all ye soft powers,

     Whose silken flatteryes swell a few fond houres.

   • Template:RQ:Wollstonecraft Vindication
   • 1855, Elizabeth Gaskell, North and South, Chapter 1,^[2]

     […] in spite of the buzz in the next room, Edith had rolled herself up into a soft ball of muslin and ribbon, and silken curls, and gone off into a peaceful little after-dinner nap.

   • 1994, Stephen Fry, The Hippopotamus, Random House, 2010, Chapter 2, p. 37,^[3]

     He heard the silken rustle of a dressing-gown being drawn on.

3. (figuratively, of speech, singing, oratory, etc.) Smoothly uttered; flowing, subtle, or convincing in presentation.
   • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:

     Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise,
     Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation,
     Figures pedantical; these summer-flies
     Have blown me full of maggot ostentation:

4. Dressed in silk.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     […] shall a beardless boy,
     A cocker’d silken wanton, brave our fields […] ?

   • 1724, Aaron Hill, The Plain Dealer, London: S. Richardson & A. Wilde, 1730, Volume 2, No. 81, 28 December, 1724, p. 197,^[4]

     Last Saturday was three Weeks, at Two, in the Afternoon, I sent out my Servant, to watch a Couple of these Silken Strollers, and keep, if possible, within Ken of them.

   • 1968, Jan Morris, Pax Britannica: The Climax of Empire, London: Faber & Faber, 2010, Chapter 10, p. 200,^[5]

     […] the Viceroy moved magnificently through India, resplendent with all the colour and dash of the vast Empire at his feet, with his superb bodyguard jangling scarlet beside his carriage, silken Indian princes bowing at his carpet, generals quivering at the salute and ceremonial salutes of thirty-one guns […]

Synonyms

• (made of silk): seric (rare)

Derived terms

• silkenly

Translations

made of silk

• Armenian: մետաքսյա (hy) (metakʻsya), մետաքսե (hy) (metakʻse), աբրեշումե (hy) (abrešume)
• Bulgarian: копринен (koprinen)
• Czech: hedvábný (cs) m
• Dutch: zijden (nl)
• German: seiden (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: σηρικός (sērikós)

• Hungarian: selyem (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: di seta, serico
• Old English: seolcen
• Polish: jedwabny (pl)
• Russian: шёлковый (ru) (šólkovyj)
• Spanish: de seda

having a texture like silk

• Armenian: մետաքսյա (hy) (metakʻsya), մետաքսե (hy) (metakʻse)
• Bulgarian: мек (bg) (mek), нежен (bg) (nežen)
• French: soyeux (fr)
• German: seiden (de)
• Hungarian: selymes (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: setoso
• Polish: jedwabisty (pl)
• Spanish: sedoso (es)

smoothly spoken or sung

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Verb

silken (third-person singular simple present silkens, present participle silkening, simple past and past participle silkened)

1. (transitive) To render silken or silklike.

   silkening body lotion

   • 1757, John Dyer, The Fleece, London: R. & J. Dodsley, Book I, lines 492-494, p. 30,^[6]

     Or, if your sheep are of Silurian breed,

     Nightly to house them dry on fern or straw,

     Silk’ning their fleeces.

   • 1987, Derek Walcott, “The Light of the World” in The Arkansas Testament, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 48,^[7]

     […] these lights silkened her black skin:

Anagrams

• Elkins, Kinsel, Kliens, Lesnik, inkles, k-lines, klines, likens

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Middle English

Adjective

silken

1. Alternative form of selken

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Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

silken m

1. (deprecated template usage) definite singular of silke

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Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

silken m

1. (deprecated template usage) definite singular of silke