# silent

> English word · Adjective · IPA /ˈsaɪlənt/ · frequency rank #3,335

## Definitions
1. Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.
2. Not speaking; indisposed to talk; speechless; mute; taciturn; not loquacious; not talkative.
3. Keeping at rest; inactive; calm; undisturbed.
4. Not pronounced; having no sound; quiescent.
5. Having no effect; not operating; inefficient.
6. With the sound turned off; usually on silent or in silent mode.
7. Without audio capability.
8. Hidden, unseen.
9. Of an edit or change to a text, not explicitly acknowledged.
10. Not implying significant modifications which would affect a peptide sequence.
11. Undiagnosed or undetected because of an absence of symptoms.
12. Of distilled spirit: having no flavour or odour.

## Etymology
From Latin silēns (“silent”), present participle of sileō (“be silent”), from Proto-Indo-European *seyl- (“still, windless, quiet, slow”). Related to Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰𐍃𐌹𐌻𐌰𐌽 (anasilan, “to cease, grow still, be silent”), Old English sālnes (“silence”).

## Easily confused with
- **silt** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-silt)
- **spent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-spent)
- **slept** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-slept)
- **siren** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-siren)
- **slant** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-slant)
- **sleet** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-sleet)
- **stent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-stent)
- **splint** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-splint)
- **silken** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-silken)
- **solvent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-solvent)
- **silently** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silent-vs-silently)
- **sent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/sent-vs-silent)
- **scent** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/scent-vs-silent)
- **Siena** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/siena-vs-silent)
- **select** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/select-vs-silent)
- **Selena** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/selena-vs-silent)
- **silence** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silence-vs-silent)
- **salient** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/salient-vs-silent)

## Common misspellings (9)
`islent`, `sielnt`, `silennt`, `silentt`, `siletn`, `sillent`, `silnet`, `slient`, `ssilent`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/silent