Skip to the word

Added 9 October 2026

silver

/ˈsɪl.və/ noun

In Latin: argentum, pustulatum Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about silver at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.
Coins made from silver or any similar white metal.
Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal.

adjective

Made from silver.
Made from another white metal.
Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.

verb

To acquire a silvery colour.
To cover with silver, or with a silvery metal.
to silver a pin; to silver a glass mirror plate with an amalgam of tin and mercury
To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin. Cognate with Scots siller (“silver”), Saterland Frisian Säälwer (“silver”), West Frisian sulver (“silver”), Dutch zilver (“silver”), German Low German Silver, Sülver (“silver”), German Silber (“silver”), Swedish silver (“silver”), Icelandic silfur (“silver”). The Germanic word has parallels in Baltic and Slavic (Old Church Slavonic сьрєбро (sĭrebro), Lithuanian sidabras), Celtic (Celtiberian silaPur-), and outside Indo-European, in Basque zilar and Proto-Berber *a-ẓrəf, but the ultimate origin of the word is unknown.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

Back to today's word