silk

B1 Topic:Describing Qualities

US /sɪlk/ See IPA manual

Freq #4693

Meanings

1

noun
A soft, smooth, expensive cloth woven from threads made by silkworms.

She wore a beautiful dress made of silk.
2

noun
The fine thread produced by silkworms and some other insects and spiders.

A spider's web is made of incredibly strong silk.

Thesaurus

Word family

Forms silks

Derived forms cornsilkcrow-silkdesilkfloss-silknonsilksilk-oaksilk-stockingsilkensilkersilkettesilkgrasssilkgrower

Etymology

From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 /丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge.

silk Middle English sioloc Old English sēricus la-lat σηρικός Ancient Greek

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# silk

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /sɪlk/
**Frequency rank:** 4693

## Meanings
1. A soft, smooth, expensive cloth woven from threads made by silkworms.
2. The fine thread produced by silkworms and some other insects and spiders.

## Examples
- She wore a beautiful dress made of silk.
- A spider's web is made of incredibly strong silk.

## Derived Forms
- cornsilk
- crow-silk
- desilk
- floss-silk
- nonsilk
- silk-oak
- silk-stocking
- silken
- silker
- silkette
- silkgrass
- silkgrower

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: silk
- Root: sioloc
- Root: sēricus
- Root: σηρικός

## Etymology
From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 /丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge.

## AI Etymology
Silk is from Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 /丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge. Important forms in the word's history include Middle English silk, Old English sioloc, la-lat sēricus, Ancient Greek σηρικός. In current use it includes senses such as A soft, smooth, expensive cloth woven from threads made by silkworms and The fine thread produced by silkworms and some other insects and spiders.

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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silk

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