English
silverpoint
From silver + point.
Proto-Germanic *silubrą ‘silver’
Proto-West Germanic *silubr ‘silver’
Old English seolfor ‘silver’
Middle English silver ‘silver’
English silver
Proto-Indo-European *pewǵ- ‘to prick, punch’
…
Latin pungō ‘to prick; to puncture’
Latin pūnctum ‘point; puncture’
Old French point ‘dot’
Middle English poynt ‘small hole’
English point
Today it means
noun A traditional technique for drawing by dragging a silvern rod or wire across a surface, often prepared with gesso or primer.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “silverpoint”. 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 / silverpoint