silicon

See also: Silicon and silicón

English

Chemical element
Si
Previous: aluminium (Al)
Next: phosphorus (P)

A piece of purified silicon.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sĭl'ĭkən, (UK, US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlɪkən/

  • Audio (New Jersey); /ˈsɪlɪkən/:

    (file)

• enPR: sĭl'ĭkŏn′
  • (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪləkɒn/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪləˌkɑn/

Etymology 1

Coined by Scottish chemist Thomas Thomson as a modification of the earlier name silicium, from the stem of Latin silex (“flint, silica”) + -on from carbon.

Noun

silicon (usually uncountable, plural silicons)

2. (chemistry, uncountable) A nonmetallic element (symbol Si) with an atomic number of 14 and atomic weight of 28.0855.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) silicium, (obsolete) silicum

   • 1970, James W[alter] Mayer, Lennart Eriksson, John A[rthur] Davies, “General Features of Ion Implantation”, in Ion Implantation in Semiconductors: Silicon and Germanium, New York, N.Y.: Academic Press, →OCLC, page 5:

     The isolated disordered regions and the amorphous layer have widely different anneal behavior. In the case of germanium and silicon, the isolated disordered regions anneal at moderate temperatures of approximately 200° and 300° C, respectively. The amorphous layers also anneal in a characteristic fashion, but at appreciably higher temperatures, i.e., at approximately 600° C in silicon and 400° C in germanium.

3. (chemistry, countable) A single atom of this element.

Usage notes

Do not confuse silicon with silicone.

Derived terms

• cuprosilicon
• Cwm Silicon
• disilicon
• ekasilicon
• ferrosilicon
• float-zone silicon
• lithium-drifted silicon detector
• nanosilicon
• nonsilicon
• organosilicon
• polysilicon
• radiosilicon
• silicene
• silician
• silicide
• silico-
• silicon-28
• silicon-29
• silicon-30
• silicon alkoxide
• Silicon Alley
• silicon-based
• silicon bronze
• silicon burning
• silicon carbide
• silicon chip
• silicon controlled rectifier
• silicon-controlled rectifier
• silicon copper
• silicon curtain
• silicon dioxide
• silicon disk
• silicon ester
• Silicon Fen
• Silicon Forest
• silicon germanide
• silicon germanium
• Silicon Glen
• Silicon Hills
• silicon hydride
• silicon iron
• siliconise, siliconize
• Siliconite
• siliconlike
• silicon monoxide
• silicon nitride
• silicon oxide
• silicon oxycarbide
• silicon photonics
• silicon planet
• Silicon Prairie
• Silicon Roundabout
• silicon rubber
• Silicon Sentier
• silicon steel
• silicon tet
• silicon tetrabromide
• silicon tetrachloride
• silicon tetrafluoride
• Silicon Valley
• Silicon Wadi
• silicon wafer
• silicyne
• silsesquioxane
• silundum
• sima
• strained silicon
• tetrasilicon
• zincsilite

Related terms

• silane
• silex
• silica
• silicate
• silice
• siliceous, silicious
• silici-
• silicic
• siliciferous
• silicified
• silicify
• silicisation, silicization
• silico-
• silicone
• silicosis
• silicotic

Translations

non-metallic element

• Afrikaans: silikon (af)
• Albanian: silicium ?
• Arabic: سِلِيكُون m (silikōn)
• Armenian: սիլիցիում (hy) (silicʻium)
• Asturian: siliciu (ast) m
• Basque: silizioa
• Belarusian: крэ́мній m (krémnij)
• Breton: silisiom m, silikiom m
• Bulgarian: сили́ций m (silícij)
• Catalan: silici (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 硅 (zh) (guī) (Mainland), 矽 (zh) (xī) (Taiwan, Hong Kong)

• Cornish: silikon m
• Corsican: siliciu m
• Czech: křemík (cs) m
• Danish: silicium (da) n
• Dutch: silicium (nl) n
• Esperanto: silicio (eo)
• Estonian: räni (et)
• Faroese: silisium n
• Finnish: pii (fi)
• French: silicium (fr) m
• Friulian: silici ?
• Galician: silicio (gl) m
• Georgian: სილიციუმი (siliciumi)
• German: Silizium (de) n, Silicium (de) n (professional jargon)

  Central Franconian: Silizium

• Greek: πυρίτιο (el) n (pyrítio)
• Gujarati: સિલિકોન ? (silikon), સૈકતા f (saiktā)
• Haitian Creole: silisyòm
• Hawaiian: silikone
• Hebrew: צורן (he) m (tsoran)
• Hindi: सैकता ? (saiktā)
• Hungarian: szilícium (hu)
• Icelandic: kísill (is) m
• Ido: siliko (io)
• Indonesian: silikon (id), zat pasir (id)
• Interlingua: silicium
• Irish: sileacan (ga) m
• Italian: silicio (it) m
• Japanese: ケイ素 (ja) (keiso), 珪素 (ja) (keiso), シリコン (ja) (shirikon)
• Kannada: ಸಿಲಿಕಾನ್ (silikān)
• Kashubian: krzém
• Kazakh: кремний (kk) (kremnii)
• Khmer: ស៊ីលីស្យូម (siiliisyoum)
• Korean: 규소(硅素) (ko) (gyuso), 규소(珪素) (ko) (gyuso), 실리콘 (sillikon)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: sîlîsyûm (ku)

• Kyrgyz: кремний (kremniy)
• Lao: ຊິລິຄອນ (si li khǭn)
• Latin: silicium (la) n
• Latvian: silīcijs m
• Lingala: siliki class 9a/10a
• Lithuanian: silicis (lt) ?
• Low German: silizium ?
• Luxembourgish: Silizium ?
• Macedonian: силициум m (silicium)
• Malay: silikon (ms)
• Malayalam: സിലിക്കണ് (silikkaṇ)
• Maltese: silikon
• Manx: silicoin m
• Maori: takawai
• Marathi: सिलिकॉन ? (silikŏn)
• Mongolian: цахиур (mn) (caxiur)
• Nahuatl: tecpatli
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: silisium (no) n

  Nynorsk: silisium (nn) n

• Occitan: silici (oc) m
• Persian: سیلیسیم (silisyom)
• Polish: krzem (pl) m
• Portuguese: silício (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਸਿਲੀਕੋਨ ? (silīkon)
• Quechua: ullayayaq
• Romanian: siliciu (ro) n
• Russian: кре́мний (ru) m (krémnij), сили́ций (ru) m (silícij)
• Sanskrit: सैकतीय (saikatīya)
• Santali: ᱥᱤᱞᱤᱠᱟᱱ (silikan)
• Scottish Gaelic: sileacon m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: силицијум m, сѝлӣцӣј m

  Roman: silicijum m, sìlīcīj (sh) m

• Sicilian: siliciu (scn) ?
• Slovak: kremík (sk) m
• Slovene: silicij (sl) m
• Spanish: silicio (es) m
• Swahili: silikoni
• Swedish: kisel (sv) n
• Tagalog: silisyo
• Tajik: силитсий (silitsiy)
• Tamil: சிலிக்கான் (ta) (cilikkāṉ)
• Telugu: సిలికాన్ (te) (silikān)
• Thai: ซิลิคอน (th) (sí-lí-kɔ̂n)
• Turkish: silisyum (tr)
• Ukrainian: кре́мній (uk) m (krémnij)
• Uzbek: kremniy (uz)
• Vietnamese: silic (vi)
• Welsh: silicon (cy) m, callestrai m
• West Frisian: silisium ?
• Yiddish: סיליציום m (silitsyum), סיליקאָן m (silikon)

See also

• agate
• amethyst
• asbestos
• clay
• feldspar
• flint
• glass
• granite
• hornblende
• jasper
• mica
• opal
• quartz
• rock crystal
• sand

Etymology 2

From the silicon chips used in computers.

Noun

silicon (uncountable)

1. (slang) Computing.
2. (slang) A computer processor.
3. Abbreviation of silicon chip.

Derived terms

• silicon lottery

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2025) “Silicon”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “silicon”, in Mindat.org‎^[1], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2025.

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French silicone.

Noun

silicon m (plural siliconi)

1. (chemistry) silicone

Declension

Declension of silicon

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	silicon	siliconul		siliconi	siliconii
genitive-dative	silicon	siliconului		siliconi	siliconilor
vocative	siliconule			siliconilor

Noun

silicon n (plural silicoane)

1. (informal, chiefly in the plural) breast implant

Declension

Declension of silicon

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	silicon	siliconul		silicoane	silicoanele
genitive-dative	silicon	siliconului		silicoane	silicoanelor
vocative	siliconule			silicoanelor

Related terms

• siliciu

Welsh

Chemical element
Si
Previous: alwminiwm (Al)
Next: ffosfforws (P)

Etymology

Borrowed from English silicon, a modification of silicium, from Latin silex (“flint, silica”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlɪˌkɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɪlɪkɔn

Noun

silicon m (uncountable, not mutable)

1. silicon

   Synonym: callestrai

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “silicon”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies