silk

silk

See also: Silk

English

a silk handkerchief

A performer using silks

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 zilkaĩ), 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.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭlk, IPA^(key): /sɪlk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪlk

Noun

silk (countable and uncountable, plural silks)

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

   The thread made of silk was barely visible.

2. A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers.
   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “His Own People”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326, page 6:

     It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.

3. Anything which resembles silk, such as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize, or the seed covering of bombaxes.
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, “Dangerous Lady”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, OCLC 483591931, page 36:

     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.

4. The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel.
5. (colloquial) A Queen's Counsel, King's Counsel or Senior Counsel.
6. (circus arts, in the plural) A pair of long silk sheets suspended in the air on which a performer performs tricks.
7. (horse racing, usually in the plural) The garments worn by a jockey displaying the colors of the horse's owner.

Derived terms

• make a silk purse of a sow's ear
• silken
• silkweaver
• silkweaving
• silkworm
• silky
• smooth as silk
• soft as silk
• take silk

 

Translations

fiber

Arabic: حَرِير‎ m (ḥarīr) Egyptian Arabic: حرير‎ m (ḥarīr) Hijazi Arabic: حرير‎ m (ḥarīr) Armenian: մետաքս (hy) (metakʿs) Aromanian: mãtase f Assamese: ৰেচম (resom) Asturian: seda f Azerbaijani: ipək (az) Banjarese: lalamas Basque: zeta (eu) Belarusian: шоўк m (šoŭk), ядва́б m (jadváb) Bengali: রেশম (reśômô) Breton: seiz (br) m Bulgarian: коприна (bg) f (koprina), (dated) сви́ла (bg) f (svíla) Catalan: seda (ca) f Central Melanau: seterak Chakma: please add this translation if you can Chechen: чилла (čilla) Chinese: Dungan: сыщян (sɨxi͡an) (絲線) Mandarin: 絲／丝 (zh) (sī), 絲線／丝线 (zh) (sīxiàn) Coptic: ϣⲉⲛⲥ m (šens) Cornish: owrlin m Corsican: seta f Czech: hedvábí (cs) n Dalmatian: saita f Danish: silke (da) c Dhivehi: ފަށުި‎ Dutch: zijde (nl) f (from silk worm); rag (nl) n, spinrag (nl) n (from spider) Esperanto: silko Estonian: siid Faroese: silki n Finnish: silkki (fi) French: soie (fr) f Friulian: sede f Galician: seda (gl) f, serda f Georgian: აბრეშუმი (ka) (abrešumi) German: Seide (de) f Greek: μέταξα (el) f (métaxa), (colloquial) μετάξι (el) n (metáxi) Gujarati: રેશમ n (reśam) Hausa: tsamiya Hebrew: מֶשִׁי‎ (he) m (meshi) Hindi: रेशम (hi) m (reśam) Hungarian: selyemszál Icelandic: silki (is) Ido: silko (io) Indonesian: sutra (id) Interlingua: seta Irish: síoda m, seiric f Italian: seta (it) f Japanese: 絹 (ja) (きぬ, kinu), 絹糸 (ja) (きぬいと, kinuito) Kannada: ರೇಷ್ಮೆ (kn) (rēṣme) Kazakh: жібек (kk) (jıbek) Khmer: សូត្រ (km) (sout) Korean: 명주(明紬) (ko) (myeongju), 비단(緋緞) (ko) (bidan) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: ئاوریشم‎ (ku) (awrîşm) Northern Kurdish: hevrîşm (ku) m, herîr (ku) m Kyrgyz: жибек (ky) (jibek) Lao: ໄໝ (lo) (mai) Latin: sēricum n, bombȳx m Latvian: zīds m Lithuanian: šilkas Luxembourgish: Seid f Lü: ᦺᦖ (ṁay), ᦶᦣ (hae) Macedonian: свила f (svila) Malay: sutera (ms) Malayalam: പട്ട് (ml) (paṭṭŭ) Manchu: ᠰᡳᡵᡤᡝ (sirge) Manx: sheeidey m Mirandese: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: Cyrillic: торгон утас (torgon utas) Ngazidja Comorian: hariri class 9/10 North Frisian: siisen Norwegian: Bokmål: silke m Nynorsk: silke m Occitan: seda (oc) f Old East Slavic: шьлкъ m (šĭlkŭ) Oriya: ରେଶମ (or) (reśômô) Oromo: hariira Ossetian: цыллӕ (cyllæ) Ottoman Turkish: ایپك‎ (ipek), ابرشیم‎ (ibrişim), حریر‎ (harir), قز‎ (kazz) Pashto: ورېښم‎ (ps) m (wreӽᶕm) Persian: ابریشم‎ (fa) (abrišam), حریر‎ (fa) (harir) Polish: jedwab (pl) m Portuguese: seda (pt) f Rohingya: recóm Romanian: mătase (ro) f Romansch: saida f, seida f, seda f Russian: шёлк (ru) m (šolk) Samogitian: sėlks Sardinian: seda f, sera f, seta f Scottish Gaelic: sìoda m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сви́ла f Roman: svíla (sh) f Sicilian: sita (scn) Slovak: hodváb m Slovene: svila (sl) f Somali: xariir (so) m Southern Altai: торко (torko), јибек (ǰibek) Spanish: seda (es) f Sundanese: sutra Swahili: hariri (sw) Swedish: silke (sv) n Tajik: абрешим (tg) (abrešim), ҳарир (harir) Tamil: பட்டு (ta) (paṭṭu) Telugu: పట్టు (te) (paṭṭu) Thai: ไหม (th) (mǎi) Tibetan: དར (dar) Turkish: ipek (tr) Turkmen: ýüpek Udi: абришӏум (abriš:um) Ukrainian: шовк m (šovk), єдва́б (uk) m (jedváb) Urdu: ریشم‎ m (rēśam) Uyghur: يىپەك‎‎ (yipek‎) Uzbek: ipak (uz), harir (uz) Vietnamese: tơ (vi), chỉ tơ Vilamovian: zajd f Volapük: sadin (vo) Walloon: soye (wa) f Waray-Waray: sida Welsh: sidan (cy) m Westrobothnian: selk n, siltj n Yiddish: זײַד‎ f (zayd)

fabric

Albanian: mëndafsh (sq) m Arabic: حَرِير‎ m (ḥarīr) Egyptian Arabic: حرير‎ m (ḥarīr) Armenian: մետաքս (hy) (metakʿs) Aromanian: mãtase f Asturian: seda f Azerbaijani: ipək (az) Belarusian: шоўк m (šoŭk), ядва́б m (jadváb) Bengali: সিল্ক (silkô), রেশম (reśômô) Bulgarian: копри́на (bg) f (koprína) Burmese: ပိုး (my) (pui:) Catalan: seda (ca) f Chinese: Cantonese: 絲, 丝 (si1), 絲綢, 丝绸 (si1 cau4) Dungan: сычу (sɨču) (絲綢) Hakka: 絲綢, 丝绸 (sṳ̂-chhù) Mandarin: 絲／丝 (zh) (sī), 絲綢／丝绸 (zh) (sīchóu) Min Bei: 絲綢, 丝绸 (sí-diû) Min Dong: 絲綢, 丝绸 (sĭ-dièu) Min Nan: 絲, 丝 (si / su), 絲綢, 丝绸 (si-tiû) Wu: 絲綢, 丝绸 (sr zeu) Czech: hedvábí (cs) n Dalmatian: saita f Danish: silke (da) c Dutch: zijde (nl) f, zijdedoek m Estonian: siid Faroese: silki n Finnish: silkki (fi) French: soie (fr) f Friulian: sede f Galician: seda (gl) f, serda f Georgian: აბრეშუმი (ka) (abrešumi) German: Seide (de) f Greek: μετάξι (el) n (metáxi) Ancient: σηρικόν n (sērikón) Hebrew: מֶשִׁי‎ (he) m (meshi) Hindi: रेशम (hi) m (reśam) Hungarian: selyem (hu) Icelandic: silki (is) Irish: síoda m, éadach síoda m Italian: seta (it) f Japanese: 絹 (ja) (きぬ, kinu), 絹布 (けんぷ, kenpu), 絹地 (きぬじ, kinuji) Kazakh: жібек (kk) (jıbek) Khmer: ព្រែ (km) (prɛɛ) Korean: 비단(緋緞) (ko) (bidan) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: ئاوریشم‎ (ku) (awrîşim) Northern Kurdish: hevrîşm (ku) Kyrgyz: жибек (ky) (jibek) Lao: ໄໝ (lo) (mai) Latin: sēricum n, bombȳx m Latvian: zīds m Lithuanian: šilkas m Livonian: zīḑõz Macedonian: свила f (svila) Malay: sutera (ms) Malayalam: പട്ട് (ml) (paṭṭŭ) Maltese: ħarir m Maori: hiraka Mongolian: Cyrillic: торго (mn) (torgo) Nanai: гокси, сэурэ Navajo: naakʼaʼatʼą́hí disǫsígíí Nivkh: чарб (ț’arb) Northern Sami: silki Norwegian: Bokmål: silke m Nynorsk: silke m Occitan: seda (oc) f Old East Slavic: шьлкъ m (šĭlkŭ) Old Norse: silki n Persian: سیلک‎ (fa) (silk), دیبا‎ (fa) (dibâ), پرنیان‎ (fa) (parniyân), پرند‎ (fa) (parand), لاد‎ (fa) (lâd), سره‎ (fa) (sare), ابریشم‎ (fa) (abrišam, abrišom, abrišem), حریر‎ (fa) (harir) Plautdietsch: Sied m Polish: jedwab (pl) m Portuguese: seda (pt) f Romanian: mătase (ro) f Romansch: saida f, seida f, seda f Russian: шёлк (ru) m (šolk) Sardinian: seda f, sera f, seta f Scottish Gaelic: sìoda m, sròl m Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: сви́ла f Roman: svíla (sh) f Slovak: hodváb m Slovene: svila (sl) f Southern Altai: торко (torko) Spanish: seda (es) f Swedish: siden (sv) n, silke (sv) n Tagalog: sutla (tl), seda Tajik: абрешим (tg) (abrešim), шоҳӣ (šohī) Tamil: பட்டு (ta) (paṭṭu) Taos: sédoną Telugu: పట్టు (te) (paṭṭu) Thai: ไหม (th) (mǎi), ผ้าไหม (th) (pâa-mǎi) Turkish: ipek (tr) Turkmen: ýüpek Udi: абришӏум (abriš:um) Ukrainian: шовк m (šovk), єдва́б (uk) m (jedváb) Urdu: ریشم‎ m (reśam) Uyghur: يىپەك‎ (yipek) Uzbek: ipak (uz), harir (uz) Vietnamese: vải lụa, lụa (vi), tơ lụa, xoa (vi) Yiddish: זײַד‎ f (zayd) Zhuang: seicouz, couz

Verb

silk (third-person singular simple present silks, present participle silking, simple past and past participle silked)

1. (transitive) To remove the silk from (corn).
   • 2013, Lynetra T. Griffin, From Whence We Came (page 17)

     While we shucked and silked the corn, we talked, sang old nursery rhymes […]

See also

• sericin

Anagrams

• Kils, Lisk, ilks, skil