silver

See also: Silver

English

Etymology

From Middle English silver, selver, sulver, from Old English seolfor, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertain origin.

cognates and etymology discussion

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.

Adjective sense of twenty-fifth wedding anniversary generalized from silver wedding, from German Silberhochzeit, silberne Hochzeit.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪl.və/
• (General American) enPR: sĭl'vər IPA^(key): /ˈsɪl.vɚ/
• Rhymes: -ɪlvə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: sil‧ver

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

silver (countable and uncountable, plural silvers)

Chemical element
Ag
Previous: palladium (Pd)
Next: cadmium (Cd)

2. (uncountable) A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.

   Synonyms: (alchemy) ☽, ☾

3. (collectively) Coins made from silver or any similar white metal.
   • 1990, David F. Friedman, Don DeNevi, A Youth in Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-film King, page 136:

     […] maybe two or three twenties, a dozen tens, and twenty or thirty fins. The rest is all aces and silver.

4. (collectively) Cutlery and other eating utensils, whether silver or made from some other white metal.
5. (collectively) Any items made from silver or any other white metal.
6. (uncountable) A shiny gray color.
   • 2017, Sam Shepard, chapter 27, in Spy of the First Person, →ISBN, page 62:

     I'll need some mayonnaise and a silver tin of sardines, a banana.

   silver:  

7. (countable) a silver medal
8. Anything resembling silver; something shiny and white.
   • 1909 April 10, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “[The Time Machine and Other Stories]. The Beautiful Suit.”, in The Short Stories of H. G. Wells, London: Ernest Benn Limited […], published September 1927, →OCLC, pages 162–163:

     And next morning they found him dead, with his neck broken, in the bottom of the stone pit, with his beautiful clothes a little bloody, and foul and stained with the duckweed from the pond. But his face was a face of such happiness that, had you seen it, you would have understood indeed how that he had died happy, never knowing that cool and streaming silver for the duckweed in the pond.

Synonyms

• (metallic element): argyr-
• (white-metal coins): argyr-
• (cutlery and other eating utensils): silverware
• E174 (when used as a food colouring)

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: silva
• → Maori: hiriwa
• → Zulu: isiliva

Translations

See silver/translations § Noun.

Adjective

silver (comparative more silver, superlative most silver)

Silver Roman artwork

1. Made from silver.
   • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

     He looked round the poor room, at the distempered walls, and the bad engravings in meretricious frames, the crinkly paper and wax flowers on the chiffonier; and he thought of a room like Father Bryan's, with panelling, with cut glass, with tulips in silver pots, such a room as he had hoped to have for his own.

   • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:

     But Richmond […] appeared to lose himself in his own reflections. Some pickled crab, which he had not touched, had been removed with a damson pie; and his sister saw, peeping around the massive silver epergne that almost obscured him from her view, that he had eaten no more than a spoonful of that either.

2. Made from another white metal.
3. Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.
4. Denoting the twenty-fifth anniversary, especially of a wedding.
   • 1994, “Mate matching” in Accent on Living, v 38, n 4 (Spring), p 52:

     Mostly, these have been relationships of 10 or less years. However, one respondent has celebrated her silver wedding anniversary.

5. (of commercial services) Premium, but inferior to gold.
6. Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.

   a silver-voiced young girl

Synonyms

• (made from silver): silvern (literary)
• (having a color like silver): silvery

Translations

See silver/translations § Adjective.

See also

• argent
• argentaffin
• argental
• argentan
• argentane
• argentate
• argenteous
• argentian
• argentic
• argentiferous
• argentific
• argentify
• Argentina
• Argentine
• argentine
• argentite
• argento-
• argentometer
• argentous
• argentry
• argentum nitricum
• argyria
• electrum
• hydrargyrum
• litharge
• piastre
• plateresque
• polybasite
• proustite
• pyrargyrite
• Rio de la Plata
• sylvanite

• Appendix:Colors

Verb

silver (third-person singular simple present silvers, present participle silvering, simple past and past participle silvered)

1. To acquire a silvery colour.
   • 1880 November 12, Lew[is] Wallace, chapter IV, in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, book sixth, page 416:

     Presently all the eastern sky began to silver and shine, and objects before invisible in the west—chiefly the tall towers on Mount Zion—emerged as from a shadowy depth, [...]

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “Silverside”, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 281:

     But when the moon rose and the breeze awakened, and the sedges stirred, and the cat's-paws raced across the moonlit ponds, and the far surf off Wonder Head intoned the hymn of the four winds, the trinity, earth and sky and water, became one thunderous symphony—a harmony of sound and colour silvered to a monochrome by the moon.

2. 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

3. To polish like silver; to impart a brightness to, like that of silver.
   • 1725, Homer, “Book X”, in [Alexander Pope], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume III, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 17, lines 107–108:

     For here retir'd the ſinking billows ſleep, / And ſmiling calmneſs ſilver'd o'er the deep.

4. To make hoary, or white, like silver.
   • 1727, [John] Gay, “Introduction to the Fables. The Shepherd and the Philosopher.”, in Fables, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] J[acob] Tonson and J. Watts, published 1728, →OCLC:

     Remote from cities liv'd a Swain, / Unvex'd with all the cares of gain, / His head was ſilver'd o'er with age, / And long experience made him ſage; [...]

Derived terms

from all parts of speech

• 30 pieces of silver
• ale silver
• antimonial silver
• antisilver
• besilver
• bismuth-silver
• black silver
• born with a silver spoon in one's mouth
• Britannia silver
• bromic silver
• capillary silver
• cat-silver, cat's silver
• Chinese silver
• code silver
• colloidal silver
• constitutional silver
• cross someone's palm with silver
• dark red silver ore
• desilver
• desilverise, desilverize
• disilver
• electrosilver
• ensilver
• every cloud has a silver lining
• every dark cloud has a silver lining
• every silver lining has a cloud
• flat silver
• flowered silver
• free silver
• fulminating silver
• German silver
• gilt silver
• gray silver
• heptasilver
• hexasilver
• horn silver
• iodic silver
• leaf-silver
• light red silver ore
• Long John Silver
• mock silver
• molybdic silver
• monosilver
• nanosilver
• native silver
• new silver
• nickel silver, nickel-silver
• nonasilver
• nonsilver
• octasilver
• on a silver platter
• organosilver
• oversilver
• Pacific silver fir
• pentasilver
• pyrosilver
• quicksilver
• radiosilver
• reap-silver
• red and silver dewdrop
• red silver
• reek-silver
• resilver
• ruby silver
• sell the family silver
• sheep-silver
• shell silver
• silver age
• silver alert
• silver alum
• silver anniversary
• silver ash (Flindersia schottiana)
• silverback
• silver-backed fox
• silver ball
• silver balli
• silver band
• silver bar
• silver bass (Aplodinotus grunniens)
• silver bath
• silver beachweed
• silverbeater
• silver-beater
• silver beech (Nothofagus menziesii, Lophozonia menziesii)
• silver beer
• silverbeet
• silver beet (chard, Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris)
• silver-beggar
• silverbell
• silver bell, silver bell (Halesia spp.)
• silver bell tree, silver-bell tree, silverbell tree (Halesia)
• silver-belly
• silver bennet
• silver berry, silverberry (Elaeagnus spp.)
• silverbill (Lonchura spp.)
• silver birch (Betula pendula))
• silverbird
• silver-black
• silver blond, silver blonde
• Silverblu, Silver Blu, Silver Blue
• silver book
• silverboom (Leucadendron argenteum)
• Silver Bow
• Silver Bow County
• silver box
• silver bream
• silver bromide
• silver bronze
• silver buckle
• silver bullet
• silver-bush, silverbush (Argythamnia, Convolvulus cneorum, Sophora tomentosa subsp. australis)
• silver carp
• silver ceiling
• silver certificate
• silver chain
• silver char
• silver chickweed
• silver chloride
• silver chub
• silver city
• silvercloth
• silver collection
• silver-colored, silver-coloured
• silver-copper nitrate
• silver cord
• silver cord is loosed
• silvercraft
• Silver Creek
• Silver Cross
• silver doctor
• silver dollar
• silver dollar fish (Metynnis spp. etc.)
• silver-dun
• silver-eared mesia (Leiothrix argentauris)
• silvered
• silver eel (Ariosoma mellissii)
• silverer
• silverette
• silver eye, silver-eye, silvereye (Zosterops lateralis)
• silver-feast, silver feast
• silver feather
• silver fern (Cyathea dealbata)
• silverfin (Cyprinella whipplei)
• silver fir (Abies spp.)
• silver fish, silver-fish, silverfish
• silver-fizz, silver fizz
• silver fluoride
• silver foil
• silver-footed
• silver-fork
• silver-fork deformity
• silver-fork fracture
• silver fork novel
• silver fox (Vulpes vulpes form)
• silver foxy, silver-foxy
• silver frost
• silver fulminate
• silver gar
• silver garfish
• silver general
• silver gibbon
• silver gilt, silver-gilt
• silver glance, silver-glance
• silver glass
• silver goal
• silver goose
• silver grain, silver-grain
• silver grass, silver-grass (Miscanthus)
• silver-gray, silvergray, silver gray
• silver-grey, silver grey, silvergrey
• silver gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae)
• silver-haired
• silver hair-grass
• silver hake (Merluccius bilinearis)
• silver halide
• silver handshake
• silver-head
• silverhead
• silver-headed
• silver hell
• silver herb
• silver-hilted
• silverily
• silveriness
• silvering
• silver iodate
• silver iodide
• silverise, silverize
• silverish
• silverism
• silverist
• Silverite
• silverite
• silverization
• silver jenny
• silver jubilee
• silver king (Atlantic tarpon, Megalops atlanticus)
• silver knapweed (Centaurea cineraria)
• silver knight
• silver lace, silver-lace
• silver lace vine, silver-lace vine (Fallopia baldschuanica)
• silver-lady
• silver lady, Silver Lady
• Silver Lake
• silver lamprey
• silver lavender
• silver lead, silver-lead
• silver-leaf nettle (Solanum elaeagnifolium)
• silver-leaf nightshade (Solanum elaeagnifolium)
• silver-leaf poplar (Populus alba)
• silver-leaf, silver leaf
• silver-leaf tree (Leucadendron argenteum)
• silver-leaved
• silver-leaved bloodwood
• silver-leaved ironbark
• silver-leaved nightshade
• silverless
• silver-like
• silverlike
• silver lime (Tilia tomentosa)
• silver linden (Tilia tomentosa)
• silverline
• silver-lined
• silver line, silver lines
• silverling
• silver lining
• silver luster, silver lustre
• silverly
• silver maple (Acer saccharinum)
• silver-marmoset
• silver medal
• silver medalist, silver medallist
• silver mine
• silver moth
• silver mound
• silver-mounted (Atheriniformes)
• silver needle noodle
• silver nitrate
• silver oxide
• silver paper
• silver perch
• silver pheasant
• silver pine
• silver-plate
• silver plate
• silver-plated
• silver retention
• silver rule
• silver salmon
• silver sand
• silver screen
• silver service
• silver skin, silver-skin, silverskin
• silversmithing
• silversmith, silver-smith
• silversmithy
• silver solder
• silver sole
• silver spoon
• silver-spoonism
• silver-spoon socialist
• silver-spot, silverspot
• silver-sprig
• silver spring
• silverspruce
• silver spruce (Picea engelmannii)
• silver standard
• silver star, silver star medal
• Silver Star, Silver Star medal
• Silver State
• silver state
• silver steel
• silver-stick
• silver storm
• silver streak
• Silver Street
• silver string
• silver sulfide, silver sulphide
• silver surfer
• silver swaddler
• silversword (Argyroxiphium)
• silver table
• silver-tailed
• silvertail, silver-tail
• silver tea (Leptospermum sericeum)
• silver telluride
• silver thatch
• silver thaw
• silver thistle
• silver thread
• silver-tip, silvertip
• Silverton
• silvertone
• silver tongue
• silver-tongued
• silver top
• silver tree fern (Cyathea dealbata)
• silver tree (Leucadendron argenteum)
• silver trevally
• silver trout (†Salvelinus agassizii)
• silver trumpet
• silver trumpeter
• silver tsunami
• silver vine (Actinidia polygama, Scindapsus pictus)
• silver vixen
• silver-voiced
• silverware
• silver-washed fritillary
• silver wattle (Acacia sclerosperma, Acacia dealbata, Acacia lasiocalyx, Acacia retinodes)
• silver wedding
• silverweed
• silver weight
• silver whiskers
• silver-white cobalt
• silver-white, silver white
• silver whiting
• silver willow (Salix geyeriana)
• silver wire, silver-wire
• silverwood
• silverwork
• silver-worker
• silverworker
• silverworking
• silver wormwood (Artemisia cana)
• silver wreck
• silvery
• silver y, silver y moth
• silvery-white
• sterling silver
• telluric silver
• telluride of gold and silver
• telluride of silver
• tetrasilver
• thirty pieces of silver
• trisilver

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2025) “Silver”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “silver”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2025.

Anagrams

• Elvirs, levirs, livers, livres, rivels, sliver, svirel

Hunsrik

Etymology

From Middle High German silber, from Old High German silbar, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsilvɐ/

Adjective

silver

1. silvern

Declension

Declension of silver (see also Appendix:Hunsrik adjectives)
		masculine	feminine	neuter	plural
Weak inflection	nominative	silver	silver	silver	silve
	accusative	silve	silver	silver	silve
	dative	silve	silve	silve	silve
Strong inflection	nominative	silver	silve	silves	silve
	accusative	silve	silve	silves	silve
	dative	silvem	silver	silvem	silve

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch silver, from Proto-West Germanic *silubr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɪlvər/

Noun

silver n

1. silver

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: zilver
  • Afrikaans: silwer
  • Negerhollands: silver, zelva, selvu
  • Skepi Creole Dutch: solfer
  • → Caribbean Javanese: silfer
  • → Loup A: sinibat, chinebat, chinibat
  • → Mahican: sehnpatt, senpett
  • → Munsee: shulpul
  • → Sranan Tongo: sorfu, solfru, sorfru
    • → Saramaccan: sólófu, sóófu
  • → Unami: silpël
• Limburgish: zèlver

Further reading

• “silver”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “silver”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Middle English

Alternative forms

• selver, seolver, sulver, sylver

Etymology

From Old English seolfor, seolofor (“silver”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsilvər/, /ˈsɛlvər/

Noun

silver (plural silvers)

1. silver (metal)
   • c. 1275, Judas (Roud 2964, Child Ballad 23, Trinity College MS. B.14.39)‎^[2], folio 34, recto, lines 16-17; republished at Cambridge: Wren Digital Library (Trinity College), 2019 May 29:

     Sone ſo iudaſ of ſlepe waſ awake. / þritti platen of ſelu[er] from hym weren itake.

     As soon as Judas had awakened from his rest, / thirty pieces of silver had been taken from him.

Related terms

• sylveren

Descendants

• English: silver
  • Jamaican Creole: silva
  • → Maori: hiriwa
  • → Zulu: isiliva
• Scots: silver, siller

Old Swedish

Alternative forms

• sylver, sølver

Etymology

From Old Norse silfr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą.

Noun

silver n

1. silver

Declension

Declension of silfr (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	silfr	silfrit	silfr	silfrin
accusative	silfr	silfrit	silfr	silfrin
dative	silfri, silfre	silfrinu, silfreno	silfrum, silfrom	silfrumin, silfromen
genitive	silfrs	silfrsins	silfra	silfranna

Descendants

• Swedish: silver

Scots

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvəɹ/

Adjective

silver (not comparable) (Cromarty)

1. Alternative form of siller

Noun

silver (uncountable) (Cromarty)

1. Alternative form of siller

References

• Am Baile (2009) The Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect‎^[3], Highland Council, page 35

Swedish

Chemical element
Ag
Previous: palladium (Pd)
Next: kadmium (Cd)

Etymology

From Old Swedish silver, from Old Norse silfr, from Proto-Germanic *silubrą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvɛr/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

silver n (uncountable)

1. silver
2. silver, coins of silver
3. silver, cutlery of silver
4. a silver medal, for 2nd place in a competition

Declension

Declension of silver

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	silver	silvers
	definite	silvret	silvrets
plural	indefinite	silver	silvers
	definite	silvren	silvrens

Derived terms

• bordssilver
• kvicksilver
• kyrksilver
• matsilver
• nysilver
• silverarmband
• silverbeslag
• silverbestick
• silverblank
• silverblänkande
• silverbricka
• silverbroderi
• silverbrokad
• silverbrons
• silverbrudpar
• silverbröllop
• silverbägare
• silverfasan
• silverfat
• silverfemma
• silverfisk
• silverflöjt
• silverfärg
• silverfärgad
• silverföremål
• silverglans
• silverglittrande
• silverglänsande
• silvergran
• silvergrogg
• silvergruva
• silvergrå
• silverhalt
• silverhår
• silverhårig
• silverkandelaber
• silverkanna
• silverkedja
• silverklang
• silverklar
• silverklingande
• silverklocka
• silverkors
• silverkrona
• silverkrycka
• silverlamé
• silverljus
• silverljusstake
• silverlock
• silverlockig
• silvermalm
• silvermedalj
• silvermedaljör
• silvermink
• silvermoln
• silvermynt
• silvermärke
• silverne
• silvernitrat
• silverpeng
• silverpenning
• silverpjäs
• silverplakett
• silverplats
• silverpokal
• silverpoppel
• silverputs
• silverram
• silverring
• silverrova
• silverräv
• silverservis
• silverskatt
• silversked
• silverskimrande
• silversko
• silverskrin
• silverskål
• silverslant
• silversmed
• silversmide
• silversmycke
• silverstake
• silverstrimma
• silverstämpel
• silverstänk
• silvertacka
• silvertallrik
• silverte
• silvertråd
• silvertärna
• silververk
• silvervit
• silvervitt
• silverålder
• silverört
• silvra
• silvrig

References

• silver in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• silver in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker
• silver in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• Svensk MeSH