silk

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

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

   She wore a beautiful dress made of silk.

2. 2
   noun

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

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

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.

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