silt
/sɪlt/noun, verb
silt is spelled S-I-L-T: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, silt means “Mud or fine earth deposited from running or standing water” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of silt is silts.
How many letters and syllables are in silt?
| Letters | 4: S-I-L-T |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 30,418th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is silt?
Silt appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 30,418th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce silt?
- /sɪlt/
Silt has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-I_learned_some_phrases-silt.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with silt?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as silt.
Spelled with the same letters in another order: list, slit.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of silt
- silts plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- silting participle, present
- silted participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does silt mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Mud or fine earth deposited from running or standing water.
- 2
Any material with similar physical characteristics, regardless of its origins or transport.
- 3
A particle from 3.9 to 62.5 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
verb
- 1
To clog or fill with silt.
- 2
To become clogged with silt.
- 3
To flow through crevices; to percolate.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Silt in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | silt, vase, limon , envaser |
| German | Schlamm, Schlick, Schluff |
| Portuguese | sedimento, silte |
| Spanish | limo, sedimentos fluviales, fango, cieno |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does silt come from?
From Middle English silte, cilte, cylte, perhaps from Middle English silen ("to filter; strain"; equivalent to sile + -t), or cognate with Norwegian and Danish sylt (“salt marsh”), Middle Low German sulte (“salt-marsh”), German Sülze (“meat in aspic”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“salty water; brine”). Related to Old English sealt (“salt”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).