silken
/ˈsɪlkən/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.62 in modern English
10
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Synonym of silky, like silk, silklike, particularly
adj
Synonym of silky, like silk, silklike, particularly
adj
Synonym of silky, like silk, silklike, particularly
Example Sentences
- "a silken veil"
- "[L]ove is not to be bought, in any ſenſe of the vvords, its ſilken vvings are inſtantly ſhrivelled up vvhen any thing beſide a return in kind is ſought."
- "[…] in spite of the buzz in the next room, Edith had rolled herself up into a soft ball of muslin and ribbon, and silken curls, and gone off into a peaceful little after-dinner nap."
- "He heard the silken rustle of a dressing-gown being drawn on."
- "[…] an admired silken-mannered gentleman in society, a tolerable polecat at home […]"
- "Taffeta phrases, silken terms precise, / Three-piled hyperboles, spruce affectation, / Figures pedantical; these summer-flies / Have blown me full of maggot ostentation:"
Etymology
From Middle English silken, selken, seolkene, from Old English seolcen, from seolc (“silk”) + -en, from an unattested early Proto-West Germanic borrowing from Latin sēricum, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”). Equivalent to silk + -en (“made of”). Cognate with Scots selkin, silkin (“silken”), Icelandic silki (“silken”).