quicksilver

quicksilver

English

Etymology

From Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quicksilver”, literally “living silver”) (see Latin argentum vivum) from its ability to move. See quick in the sense of "living". Equivalent to quick +‎ silver. Cognate with Dutch kwikzilver, German Low German Quicksülver, German Quecksilber, Danish kviksølv, Norwegian Bokmål kvikksølv, Swedish kvicksilver.

Pronunciation

• (US) enPR: kwĭk'sĭlvər, IPA^(key): /ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

Noun

quicksilver (uncountable)

1. The metal mercury.
2. (colloquial) An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors, quicksilvering.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:quicksilver.

Synonyms

• (the metal mercury): mercury, hydrargyrum

Derived terms

terms derived from quicksilver

• quicksilvered
• quicksilver horizon
• quicksilvering
• quicksilverish
• quicksilver plaster
• quicksilver soap
• quicksilver water
• quicksilvery

Translations

mercury

Bashkir: терегөмөш (teregömöş) Bulgarian: живак m (živak) Catalan: argent viu m Chinese: Mandarin: 水銀／水银 (zh) (shuǐyín) Danish: kviksølv (da) n, kviksølver n Dutch: kwikzilver (nl) n Estonian: elavhõbe (et) Faroese: kyksilvur n Finnish: elohopea (fi) French: vif-argent (fr) m Galician: mercurio (gl) m, azougue (gl) m Georgian: ვერცხლისწყალი (vercxlisc̣q̇ali), ვერცხლისწყალი (vercxlisc̣q̇ali) German: Quecksilber (de) n Greek: υδράργυρος (el) m (ydrárgyros) Ancient: ὑδράργυρος f (hudrárguros) Hebrew: כספית‎ (he) f Irish: airgead beo m Italian: argento vivo (it) m Kannada: ಪಾರಜ (kn) (pāraja), ಪಾದರಸ (kn) (pādarasa) Korean: 수은(水銀) (ko) (sueun) Latin: argentum vivum n, hydrargyrum (la) n, Latvian: dzīvsudrabs m Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can Low German: Quecksülver (nds) n Norwegian: Bokmål: kvikksølv n Nynorsk: kvikksølv (nn) n, kvikksylv (nn) n Ottoman Turkish: جیوه‎ (cive, cıva), سیماب‎ (simab) Persian: سیماب‎ (fa) (sīmāb), جیوه‎ (fa) (ǰīwe), ژیوه‎ (fa) (žīwe) Plautdietsch: Kwickselwa n Polish: rtęć (pl) f, żywe srebro (pl) n Portuguese: mercúrio (pt) m Romanian: mercur (ro) n, argint viu n, hidrargir (ro) Russian: ртуть (ru) f (rtutʹ) Spanish: mercurio (es) m, azogue (es) m Swedish: kvicksilver (sv) n Vietnamese: thuỷ ngân (vi), thủy ngân (vi) Volapük: hidrargin (vo), (synonym) märkurin (vo)

amalgam used on mirrors

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Latin: (please verify) argentum vivum, (please verify) argentum liquidum

Adjective

quicksilver (not comparable)

1. Unpredictable, erratic or fickle; mercurial.
   • 2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎:

     The idea of a merchant selling both totems of pure evil and frozen yogurt (he calls it frogurt!) is amusing in itself, as is the idea that frogurt could be cursed, but it’s really the Shopkeeper’s quicksilver shift from ominous doomsaying to chipper salesmanship that sells the sequence.

Translations

unpredictable, erratic

German: quecksilbrig

Verb

quicksilver (third-person singular simple present quicksilvers, present participle quicksilvering, simple past and past participle quicksilvered)

1. To overlay with quicksilver.
2. To treat with quicksilver.

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2023), “Quicksilver”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “quicksilver”, in Mindat.org‎, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2023.
• quicksilver in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “quicksilver”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, volume IV (P–Simulant), revised edition, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., OCLC 1078064371.