Etymograph

English

silent

Silent comes from Latin sileō ‘be silent’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *seyl- ‘still, windless, quiet, slow’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seyl-1‘still’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsileō1‘be silent’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilēns1present participle of sileō
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1591silent1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English silent
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*seyl-Wiktionary, English silent‘still’reconstructed
  2. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsileōWiktionary, English silent‘be silent’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEsilēnsWiktionary, English silentpresent participle of sileō
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1591silentWiktionary, English silent. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1591, William Shakespeare, The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]: “Deep night, dark night, the silent of the night.”

Every English word from Proto-Indo-European *seyl-

Today it means

adj Free from sound or noise; absolutely still; perfectly quiet.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “silent”. 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 / Proto-Indo-European *seyl- / silent

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