silvern

English

Etymology

From Middle English sylveren, selverne, from Old English seolfren, from Proto-Germanic *silubrīnaz (“made of silver”); equivalent to silver +‎ -(e)n. Cognate with Dutch zilveren (“silvern”), German silbern (“silvern”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvɚn/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlvən/

Adjective

silvern (not comparable)

1. (literary) Made of silver; or resembling or characteristic of silver; silvery.
   • 1868 August 29, “Sleeping Dogs”, in The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science, and Art, volume 26, number 670, page 287:

     But, leaving novelists alone, on the whole we find in real life that if speech is silvern, silence is essentially golden, and that more harm is done by saying too much than by saying too little; above all, that infinite mischief arises by not letting sleeping dogs lie.

   • 1885, Robert Bird, Law Lyrics, page 31:

     I know a pool, where shadows fall
     From fir-trees, melancholy tall,
     That dream and quiver round the rim,
     And in the molten centre swim,
     Where taper tops do all unite
     Bemirrored in its silvern light.

Translations

made from silver — see silver

Middle English

Adjective

silvern

1. Alternative form of sylveren

Noun

silvern pl

1. Alternative form of sylveren