silk

American  

[silk] / sɪlk /

noun

1. the soft, lustrous fiber obtained as a filament from the cocoon of the silkworm.

2. thread made from this fiber.

3. cloth made from this fiber.

4. a garment of this cloth.

5. a gown of such material worn distinctively by a King's or Queen's Counsel at the English bar.

6. silks, the blouse and peaked cap, considered together, worn by a jockey or sulky driver in a race.

7. Informal. a parachute, especially one opened aloft.

8. any fiber or filamentous matter resembling silk, as a filament produced by certain spiders, the thread of a mollusk, or the like.

9. the hairlike styles on an ear of corn.

10. British Informal.

    1. a King's or Queen's Counsel.

    2. any barrister of high rank.

---

adjective

1. made of silk.

2. resembling silk; silky.

3. of or relating to silk.

verb (used without object)

1. (of corn) to be in the course of developing silk.

idioms

1. take silk, to become a Queen's or King's Counsel.

2. hit the silk, to parachute from an aircraft; bail out.

silk British  

/ sɪlk /

noun

1. the very fine soft lustrous fibre produced by a silkworm to make its cocoon

2. 1. thread or fabric made from this fibre

   2. ( as modifier )

      a silk dress

3. a garment made of this

4. a very fine fibre produced by a spider to build its web, nest, or cocoon

5. the tuft of long fine styles on an ear of maize

6. 1. the gown worn by a Queen's (or King's) Counsel

   2. informal a Queen's (or King's) Counsel

   3. to become a Queen's (or King's) Counsel

---

verb

1. (intr) (of maize) to develop long hairlike styles

silk Scientific  

/ sĭlk /

1. A fiber produced by silkworms to form cocoons. Silk is strong, flexible, and fibrous, and is essentially a long continuous strand of protein. It is widely used to make thread and fabric.

2. A substance similar to the silk of the silkworm but produced by other insect larvae or by spiders to spin webs.

---

silk More Idioms  

1. see can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear; smooth as silk.

---

Other Word Forms

• half-silk
  adjective
• silklike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of silk

First recorded before 900; Middle English noun selk, seolk, solk, Old English sioloc, seol(o)c (cognate with Old Norse silki, Norwegian, Swedish, and Danish silke, but not found in other Germanic languages), by uncertain transmission from Latin sērica, noun use of neuter plural adjective sēricus, or from Greek sērikón “silk,” noun use of neuter of sērikós “silken,” literally, “Chinese,” derivative of Latin Sēres, Greek Sêres “the Chinese”; Germanic, Slavic ( Old Church Slavonic shelkŭ, Russian shëlk ) and Baltic ( Lithuanian šilkai ) all show unexplained change of r to l ); cf. seric-

Explanation

Silk is a very smooth, light fabric that's usually made of fibers from silkworm cocoons. Your sister might decide to wear a white dress made of silk to her wedding. Silk is often an expensive kind of fabric from which fancy curtains and upholstery are made, as well as clothing. Things made of silk are soft and satiny, and they usually have an almost glossy sheen. The word silk has an Old English root, sioloc, from Sēres, the Greek word for people from the region in Asia where silk was first made.

Example Sentences

She created all the world and everything in it, spinning us into being on threads of silk.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026

Betye Saar practically levitates into the room wearing a Max Mara jacket that resembles a bird’s plumage, with a butter-yellow silk Dior dress grazing the ground behind her and a cane in her hand.

From Los Angeles Times • May 7, 2026

Sailing west across the Pacific for three months, the ships brought silver coins from Spain's American colonies to Manila, where they would be exchanged for luxury goods like silk, porcelain and jade from China.

From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026

Sam and Mary give and take in equal measure, wrapped in a continuum made from red silk.

From Salon • Apr. 24, 2026

I could see nothing but the pink silk of Camilla’s train, which was right for my coloring.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

Related Words

• fiber
• taffeta
• thread
• tulle