English → Latin
“silk” in Latin
sēricussilken, made of silk; silky, silklike; alternative letter-case form of Sēricus, of or related to the Seres or (New Latinbombȳxsilkwormsēricātusdressed in silkbombȳcinussilken, silkyholosēricusentirely silken, made of pure silkvirman (adult male human); brave or courageous man, hero, warrior; husband
The English word silk itself goes back to Latin sēricus.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
silk
sericum: bombyx (the silk worm; also, silk, Plin.). Clothed in silk, sericatus: silk threads, fila bombycina: silks, serica; bombycina, -orum, nominative plur.: a silk garment, vestis serica, holoserica, or bombycina: a piece of silk, panniculus bombycinus: the silk trade, negotium sericarium (after Aurelius, Vict., Vir. Ill., 72): a silk-weaver, textor sericarius (late): a silk-mercer, negotiator sericarius (late): a silk-dyer, *infector sericarum: a ball of silk, *glomus serici.
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for silk?
- The usual Latin words for “silk” are sēricus, bombȳx, sēricātus; also bombȳcinus, holosēricus, vir. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.