# silence
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English silence, from Old French silence, from Latin silentium (“silence”), from silēns (“quiet, silent”, present participle of silēre) +‎ -ium. Displaced native Old English swīġe and sālnes.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈsaɪl(ə)ns/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈsaɪləns/
* Audio (General American):(file)
* Rhymes: -aɪləns
* Hyphenation: sil‧ence

### Noun

silence (usually uncountable, plural silences)
* The absence of any sound.
    When the motor stopped, the silence was almost deafening.
** 1990, Martin L. Gore (lyrics and music), “Enjoy the Silence”, in Violator, performed by w:Depeche Mode:Words like violence break the silence / Come crashing in into my little world
    deadly silence
    in silence
    total silence
* The act of refraining from speaking.
    "You have the right to silence," said the police officer.
** 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.
** 1832, Daniel Webster, "a convention", quoted in The History of the Union, and of the Constitution by Charles Chauncey Burr
    The administration itself keeps a profound silence.
* Refraining from speaking, for purposes of prayer or meditation; especially, a form of worship practiced by the Society of Friends (Quakers) during meetings.
    During silence a message came to me that there was that of God in every person.

#### Synonyms

* inaudibility
* quietness

#### Antonyms

* audibility
* loudness
* vocality

#### Derived terms

* argument from silence
* blue code of silence
* blue wall of silence
* break silence
* break the silence
* code of silence
* cone of silence
* conspiracy of silence
* deafening silence
* in silence
* moment of silence
* pact of silence
* radio silence
* right to silence
* silence camp
* silence is consent
* silence is golden
* silence is oppression
* silence is violence
* speech is silver, silence is golden
* suffer in silence
* tower of silence
* two-minute silence
* wall of silence

#### Related terms

* silent

#### Translations

Afrikaans: stilte
Albanian: heshtje (sq) f
Arabic: صَمْت m (ṣamt), سُكُوت m (sukūt)
Egyptian Arabic: سكوت m (sukūt)
Armenian: լռություն (hy) (lṙutʻyun)
Asturian: silenciu m
Azerbaijani: sükut (az)
Bashkir: тынлыҡ (tınlıq)
Belarusian: цішыня́ (be) f (cišynjá), маўча́нне n (maŭčánnje) (when nobody talks)
Breton: didrouz (br) m
Bulgarian: тишина́ (bg) f (tišiná), мълча́ние (bg) n (mǎlčánie) (when nobody talks)
Catalan: silenci (ca) m
Chinese:
Mandarin: 沉默 (zh) (chénmò)
Crimean Tatar: süküt
Czech: ticho (cs) n, mlčení (cs) n (when nobody talks)
Danish: tavshed (da), stilhed (da)
Dutch: stilte (nl) f
Egyptian: (sgr)
Esperanto: silento
Estonian: vaikus (et)
Faroese: tøgn f
Finnish: hiljaisuus (fi), äänettömyys (fi)
French: silence (fr) m
Galician: silencio (gl) m
Georgian: დუმილი (dumili)
German: Stille (de) f, Schweigen (de) n (when nobody talks)
Alemannic German: Stili f
Gothic: 𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (þahains)
Greek: σιωπή (el) f (siopí), σιγή (el) f (sigí), ησυχία (el) f (isychía)
Ancient: σιγή f (sigḗ), σιωπή f (siōpḗ), ἀκή f (akḗ)
Hebrew: שקט (he) m (shéket), דממה (he) f (dmamá)
Hindi: ख़ामोशी f (xāmośī), चुप्पी (hi) f (cuppī), मौनता (hi) (mauntā)
Hungarian: csend (hu), csönd (hu), hallgatás (hu) (when nobody talks)
Icelandic: þögn (is) f, ró (is) f
Ido: silenco (io)
Irish: tost m
Italian: silenzio (it) m
Japanese: 静けさ (ja) (shizukesa), 静寂 (ja) (seijaku), 黙秘 (ja) (mokuhi), 沈黙 (ja) (ちんもく, chinmoku)
Kazakh: тыныштық (tynyştyq), жайшылық (jaişylyq)
Korean: 침묵 (ko) (chimmuk)
Kurdish:
Central Kurdish: بێدەنگ (bêdeng)
Northern Kurdish: bêdengî (ku) f
Kyrgyz: унчукпоо (ky) (uncukpoo)
Latin: silentium n
Latvian: klusums m
Lithuanian: (noun) tyla (lt) f
Macedonian: ти́шина f (tíšina), мо́лчење n (mólčenje) (when nobody talks), шта́ма f (štáma)
Maori: haumūmūtanga
Marathi: शांतता (mr) f (śānttā)
Mongolian: нам гүм (nam güm)
Nepali: मौनता (maunatā)
Northern Sami: jaskatvuohta
Norwegian: ro (no) m, taushet (no) m, togn (no)
Bokmål: stillhet (no) m or f
Occitan: silenci (oc) m
Old Church Slavonic: тишина f (tišina)
Old English: swīġe f, stilnes f
Old Norse: þǫgn f
Pashto: ګنګه روژه, چوپتيا f
Persian: خاموشی (fa) (xâmuši), سکوت (fa) (sokut)
Polish: cisza (pl) f, milczenie (pl) n (when nobody talks), milczenie (pl)
Portuguese: silêncio (pt) m
Quechua: upalla
Romanian: liniște (ro) f, tăcere (ro) f
Russian: тишина́ (ru) f (tišiná), молча́ние (ru) n (molčánije) (when nobody talks)
Samoan: fīlēmū
Scots: seelence
Scottish Gaelic: tosd m, sàmhchair f
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: тишѝна f, му̑к m (when nobody talks)
Roman: tišìna (sh) f, mȗk (sh) m (when nobody talks)
Slovak: ticho n, mlčanie n (when nobody talks)
Slovene: tišina (sl) f, molk m (when nobody talks)
Southern Altai: унчукпас (unčukpas)
Spanish: silencio (es) m
Swahili: kimya (sw)
Swedish: tystnad (sv)
Tagalog: katahimikan
Tatar: тынлык (tt) (tınlıq)
Telugu: నిశ్శబ్దము (te) (niśśabdamu), మౌనము (te) (maunamu)
Tetum: nonook
Thai: ความเงียบ (th) (kwaam ngîap)
Tocharian B: ām
Tongan: fakalongo
Turkish: sessizlik (tr), sükut (tr)
Turkmen: ümsümlik
Ukrainian: ти́ша f (týša), мовча́ння n (movčánnja) (when nobody talks)
Urdu: خاموشی f (xāmośī)
Vietnamese: sự yên lặng (vi)
Volapük: seil (vo)
Welsh: distawrwydd m, tawelwch (cy) m
Yiddish: שטילקייט (shtilkeyt)
Yucatec Maya: ch’een, ch’ench’enki
Zulu: ukuthula (zu) :

### Verb

silence (third-person singular simple present silences, present participle silencing, simple past and past participle silenced)
* (transitive) To make (someone or something) silent.
    Synonym: mute
    Can you silence the crowd, so we can start the show?
* (transitive) To repress the expression of something.
    Women, as well as children, have their thoughts or emotions routinely silenced.
* (transitive) To suppress criticism, etc.
    Silence the critics.
    Silence the doubters.
** 2011 December 19, Kerry Brown, “Kim Jong-il obituary”, in The Guardian‎:A state ideology, mixing nationalism, and basic Marxist economics, going under the name "Juche", was constructed, and Kim Il-sung effectively silenced, disposed of and cleared away any opposition, isolating the country and exercising an iron grip on the military, the state media and the government and party organs.
* (molecular biology) To block gene expression.
* (euphemistic) To murder.
** 2013, Mark Shaw, The Poison Patriarch: How the Betrayals of Joseph P. Kennedy Caused the Assassination of JFK, →ISBN, page 150:They, and others through the years, believed Ruby must have acted on his own since there was no logic to the supposition that anyone could trust an uncontrollable, unreliable loudmouth like Ruby to silence Oswald.

#### Derived terms

* silencer

#### See also

* quiet, noise, loud, deaf, audible.

### Interjection

silence
* (imperative) Be silent.
    Silence! Enough of your insolence!
** 2007 September 17, Spark of Insanity‎, spoken by Achmed the Dead Terrorist (Jeff Dunham):(in response to laughter from the audience) Silence! I kill you!

#### Synonyms

* be quiet
* hush
* shut up
* whist

#### Translations
### Anagrams

* license, selenic

## French
### Etymology

From Latin silentium (“silence”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /si.lɑ̃s/
* Audio (Paris):(file)
* Homophone: silences

### Noun

silence m (plural silences)
* silence
    Antonyms: bruit, cacophonie, mélodie, musique

#### Derived terms

* en silence
* faire silence
* le silence est d’or
* minute de silence
* passer sous silence
* porte-silence
* réduire au silence
* silence, moteur, action
* silence radio
* silencieusement
* silencieux

### Further reading

* “silence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Ido
### Etymology

silenco (“silence”) +‎ -e (indicates an adverb).

### Adverb

silence
* noiselessly, silently, quietly

#### Related terms

* silencoza

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* scilence, scylence, scilense, silens, sylence, scielence, cilence

### Etymology

From Old French silence, from Latin silentium.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /siːˈlɛns(ə)/, /siˈlɛns(ə)/

### Noun

silence (uncountable)
* Silence; the state of refraining or refusing to speak.
** c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Apocalips 8:1, page 120r; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:And whanne he hadde opened þe ſeuenþe ſeel. a ſilence was maad in heuene as an half an our.And when he had opened the seventh seal, silence occurred in heaven for half an hour.
* Peace, calm; a state of tranquil and restful behaviour.
* Quietness; a lack of sound or speaking (for a given area or time).
* Refraining from excessive speaking or talking.
* The following of a religious vow of silence.
* (rare) The termination of a dispute or conflict.
* (rare) Secrecy or freedom from disruption.

#### Descendants

* English: silence
* Scots: seelence

#### References

* “sī̆lence, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-11-03.

## Middle French
### Noun

silence f (plural silences)
* silence (absence of noise)