Etymograph

English

silence

Silence comes from Old French silence, from Latin silentium, from silēns ‘silent’, the participle of sileō ‘to be silent’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsileō1‘to be silent’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilēns1‘quiet’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilentium1‘silence’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400silence1
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500silence1‘silence’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1897silence1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English silence
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsileōWiktionary, English silence‘to be silent’
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilēnsWiktionary, English silence‘quiet’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilentiumWiktionary, English silence‘silence’
  4. Old Frenchc. 842–1400silenceWiktionary, English silence
  5. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500silenceWiktionary, English silence‘silence’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1897silenceWiktionary, English silence. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1897, Winston Churchill: “Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished…”

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Today it means

noun The absence of any sound.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “silence”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin sileō / silence