Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

silphium

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.32 in modern English

Syllables: sil-phi-um
IPA

15

Scrabble Score

8

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A plant, thought to be extinct, used in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome in cooking and as a contraceptive.

Example Sentences

"Of all the mysteries of ancient Rome, silphium is among the most intriguing. Romans loved the herb as much as we love chocolate. They used silphium as perfume, as medicine, as an aphrodisiac and turned it into a condiment, called laser, that they poured on to almost every dish."

Etymology

From Latin silphium, from Ancient Greek σίλφιον (sílphion).

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: silphium, σίλφιον

Inflected Forms

silphiums (plural) silphia (plural) silfium (alternative) silphion (alternative)

Frequently Paired Words

laser rosinweed

Synonyms

silphion laserwort

Questions

What does silphium mean?: A plant, thought to be extinct, used in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome in cooking and as a contraceptive.
Where does silphium come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce silphium

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “silphium”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “silphium”.
Repeat and practice — Say “silphium” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.