Etymologically
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silk

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɪlk/[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English seolke, silk, inherited from Old English sioloc (“silk, silken cloth”), seolc,[2][3][4] cognate with Old Norse silki, Old Prussian silkas, Lithuanian šilkai and Old Church Slavonic šelkŭ,[2][3][5] ultimately from Latin sēricum (“silk”), literally Seric stuff,[3][4] from Greek Sērikós, of the Sēres, an eastern people from whom the Greeks got silk.[3][6] The form with l instead of r came through the Baltic trade and may reflect a Chinese dialect form,[3][2][4] though comparisons with Chinese sī, silk, are uncertain.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The fibre produced by silkworm larvae: about 888 in the OED, before 899 in Barnhart.[7][2]

Semantic evolution

The Sēres seem to have lived in northern China, as approached from the northwest.[3][6] Western cultivation began in 552, when agents from Byzantium disguised as monks smuggled silkworms out of China.[3] The more common Germanic word, German Seide and Dutch zijde, is from Medieval Latin seta.[3] Soft as silk is from before 1310,[7] and artificial silk from 1885.[7] Word Origins notes that the proverb about a silk purse and a sow's ear dates from the late 16th century, and that a silk, a Queen's or King's Counsel, from the silk gown worn, is late 19th-century.[6][8] Of maize, the silky tuft of styles is a later sense.[9][8]

Timeline

  • c. 888 – sioloc.[7]
  • before 1310 – soft as silk.[7]
  • late 16th century – a silk purse.[6]
  • 1885 – artificial silk.[7]
  • late 19th century – a QC.[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. The fine, lustrous fibre produced by silkworms to make their cocoons.
  2. Thread or fabric made from this, or a garment of it.
  3. The fine thread spun by a spider.
  4. (British) A Queen's or King's Counsel, or the gown such a lawyer wears.

Adjective

  1. Made of or like silk.

Word family

  • silklike
  • silken
  • silkworm
  • silky
  • silk-stocking
  • silkscreen
  • silkweed
  • corn silk
  • serge

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c d e Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  9. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin