# silk

> English word · Noun · IPA /sɪlk/ · frequency rank #6,011

## Definitions
1. A fine fiber excreted by the silkworm or other arthropod (such as a spider).
2. A fine, soft cloth woven from silk fibers.
3. Anything which resembles silk, such as the filiform styles of the female flower of maize, or the seed covering of bombaxes.
4. The gown worn by a Senior (i.e. Queen's/King's) Counsel.
5. A Queen's Counsel, King's Counsel or Senior Counsel.
6. A pair of long silk sheets suspended in the air on which a performer performs tricks.
7. The garments worn by a jockey displaying the colors of the horse's owner.

## Etymology
From Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately from an Oriental language (represented now by e.g. Chinese 絲 /丝 (sī, “silk”)). Compare Seres. Doublet of seric and serge.

## Easily confused with
- **SL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sl)
- **SK** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sk)
- **six** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-six)
- **sir** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sir)
- **sit** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sit)
- **sin** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sin)
- **SIM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sim)
- **sol** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sol)
- **sip** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sip)
- **sis** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sis)
- **sly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sly)
- **SQL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sql)
- **SNL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-snl)
- **SLR** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-slr)
- **Sul** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sul)
- **Siu** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-siu)
- **SLC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-slc)
- **SLA** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sla)
- **SPL** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-spl)
- **SLE** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/silk-vs-sle)

## Common misspellings (6)
`islk`, `sikl`, `silkk`, `sillk`, `slik`, `ssilk`

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