Etymology

Inherited from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#SILVERCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#SILVER silver, selver, sulver, from Old EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Old English#SILVERCategory:English terms derived from Old English#SILVER seolfor, from Proto-West GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#SILVERCategory:English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#SILVER *silubr, from Proto-GermanicCategory:English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#SILVERCategory:English terms derived from Proto-Germanic#SILVER *silubrą (“silver”), of uncertainCategory:English terms with unknown etymologies#SILVER origin.

Adjective sense 4 (“denoting a twenty-fifth anniversary”) generalized from silver wedding, itself a calque of German Silberhochzeit.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪl.və/Category:English 2-syllable words#SILVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER
• (General American) enPR: sĭl'vər IPA^(key): /ˈsɪl.vɚ/Category:English 2-syllable words#SILVERCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER
• Rhymes: -ɪlvə(ɹ)Category:Rhymes:English/ɪlvə(ɹ)#SILVERCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪlvə(ɹ)/2 syllables#SILVER
• Hyphenation: sil‧ver

• Audio (US):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#SILVER

Noun

silver (countable and uncountable, plural silvers)Category:English lemmas#SILVERCategory:English nouns#SILVERCategory:English uncountable nouns#SILVERCategory:English countable nouns#SILVERCategory:English countable nouns#SILVERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER

2. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#SILVER) A lustrous, white, metallic element, atomic number 47, atomic weight 107.87, symbol Ag.

   Synonyms: (alchemy) ☽Category:English terms in nonstandard scripts#SILVER, ☾Category:English terms in nonstandard scripts#SILVER

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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

     Category:Quotation templates to be cleaned
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. (uncountableCategory:English uncountable nouns#SILVER) 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

   silver:  

7. (countableCategory:English countable nouns#SILVER) 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

Adjective

silver (comparative more silver, superlative most silver)Category:English lemmas#SILVERCategory:English adjectives#SILVERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER

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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

2. Made from another white metal.
3. Having a color like silver: a shiny gray.
5. 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.

6. (of commercial services) Premium, but inferior to gold.
7. Pertaining or relating to elderly persons.

   Coordinate terms: silver-hairedCategory:English links with manual fragments#SILVER, seniorCategory:English links with manual fragments#SILVER

8. Having the clear, musical tone of silver; soft and clear in sound.

   a silver-voiced young girlCategory:English terms with usage examples#SILVER

Verb

silver (third-person singular simple present silvers, present participle silvering, simple past and past participle silvered)Category:English lemmas#SILVERCategory:English verbs#SILVERCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER

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, [...]

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

   • 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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

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 mercuryCategory:English terms with usage examples#SILVER

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.

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

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; [...]

     Category:English terms with quotations#SILVER

Derived terms

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2026), “Silver”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “silver”, in Mindat.org, Keswick, Va.: Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2026.

Anagrams

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

Etymology

From Middle High GermanCategory:Hunsrik terms inherited from Middle High German#SILVERCategory:Hunsrik terms derived from Middle High German#SILVER silber, from Old High GermanCategory:Hunsrik terms inherited from Old High German#SILVERCategory:Hunsrik terms derived from Old High German#SILVER silbar, from Proto-West GermanicCategory:Hunsrik terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#SILVERCategory:Hunsrik terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#SILVER *silubr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsilva/Category:Hunsrik 2-syllable words#SILVERCategory:Hunsrik terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER
• Rhymes: -ilvaCategory:Rhymes:Hunsrik/ilva#SILVERCategory:Rhymes:Hunsrik/ilva/2 syllables#SILVER
• Syllabification: sil‧ver

Adjective

silverCategory:Hunsrik lemmas#SILVERCategory:Hunsrik adjectives#SILVERCategory:Hunsrik entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER

1. silvern

Further reading

• Boll, Piter Kehoma (2021), “silver”, in Dicionário Hunsriqueano Riograndense–Português, 3rd edition (overall work in Portuguese), Ivoti: Riograndenser Hunsrickisch

Etymology

From Old DutchCategory:Middle Dutch terms inherited from Old Dutch#SILVERCategory:Middle Dutch terms derived from Old Dutch#SILVER silver, from Proto-West GermanicCategory:Middle Dutch terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic#SILVERCategory:Middle Dutch terms derived from Proto-West Germanic#SILVER *silubr.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzɪlvər/Category:Middle Dutch terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER

Noun

silver nCategory:Middle Dutch lemmas#SILVERCategory:Middle Dutch nouns#SILVERCategory:Middle Dutch entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Middle Dutch neuter nouns#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER

1. Category:dum:Metals#SILVERsilver

Alternative forms

• selver, sylver, seolver, sulver
• soelver (Herebert)

Etymology

From Old EnglishCategory:Middle English terms inherited from Old English#SILVERCategory:Middle English terms derived from Old English#SILVER seolfor, seolofor (“silver”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsilvər/, /ˈsɛlvər/Category:Middle English terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER

Noun

silverCategory:Middle English lemmas#SILVERCategory:Middle English nouns#SILVERCategory:Middle English entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER (plural silvers)

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

     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.

     Category:Middle English terms with quotations#SILVER

Alternative forms

• sylver, sølver

Etymology

Inherited from Old NorseCategory:Old Swedish terms inherited from Old Norse#SILVERCategory:Old Swedish terms derived from Old Norse#SILVER silfr, from Proto-GermanicCategory:Old Swedish terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#SILVERCategory:Old Swedish terms derived from Proto-Germanic#SILVER *silubrą.

Noun

silver nCategory:Old Swedish lemmas#SILVERCategory:Old Swedish nouns#SILVERCategory:Old Swedish entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Old Swedish neuter nouns#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER

1. silver

gen_sg=silvers
acc_sg=silver
nom_sg=silver
nopl=1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvəɹ/Category:Scots terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER

Adjective

silver (not comparable)Category:Scots lemmas#SILVERCategory:Scots adjectives#SILVERCategory:Scots uncomparable adjectives#SILVERCategory:Scots entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER (CromartyCategory:Cromarty Scots#SILVER)

1. alternative form of siller

Noun

silver (uncountable)Category:Scots lemmas#SILVERCategory:Scots nouns#SILVERCategory:Scots uncountable nouns#SILVERCategory:Scots entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVER (CromartyCategory:Cromarty Scots#SILVER)

1. alternative form of siller

References

• Am Baile (2009), The Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect‎, Highland Council, page 35

Etymology

Inherited from Old SwedishCategory:Swedish terms inherited from Old Swedish#SILVERCategory:Swedish terms derived from Old Swedish#SILVER silver, from Old NorseCategory:Swedish terms inherited from Old Norse#SILVERCategory:Swedish terms derived from Old Norse#SILVER silfr, from Proto-GermanicCategory:Swedish terms inherited from Proto-Germanic#SILVERCategory:Swedish terms derived from Proto-Germanic#SILVER *silubrą.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvɛr/Category:Swedish terms with IPA pronunciation#SILVER

• Audio:

  (file)

  Category:Swedish terms with audio pronunciation#SILVER

Noun

silver n (uncountable)Category:Swedish lemmas#SILVERCategory:Swedish nouns#SILVERCategory:Swedish entries with incorrect language header#SILVERCategory:Swedish neuter nouns#SILVERCategory:Pages with entries#SILVERCategory:Pages with 7 entries#SILVERCategory:Swedish uncountable nouns#SILVER

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

References

• “silver”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “silver”, in Svenska Akademiens ordböcker [Dictionaries of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “silver”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• Svensk MeSH