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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

quicksilver.

The metal mercury.

11 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/US
  1. The metal mercury.

    error-unknown-tag · literary · uncountable
  2. An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors; quicksilvering.

    broadly · error-unknown-tag · literary · uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quicksilver”, literally “living silver”) (see Latin argentum vīvum) from its ability to move. See quick in the sense of "living". Cognate with Dutch kwikzilver, German Low German Quicksülver, German Quecksilber, Danish kviksølv, Norwegian Bokmål kvikksølv, Swedish kvicksilver. By surface analysis, quick (“living”) + silver.

adj/ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/US
  1. Unpredictable, erratic, or fickle; mercurial.

    error-unknown-tag · literary · not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quicksilver”, literally “living silver”) (see Latin argentum vīvum) from its ability to move. See quick in the sense of "living". Cognate with Dutch kwikzilver, German Low German Quicksülver, German Quecksilber, Danish kviksølv, Norwegian Bokmål kvikksølv, Swedish kvicksilver. By surface analysis, quick (“living”) + silver.

verb/ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/US
  1. To overlay with quicksilver.

    transitive
  2. To treat with quicksilver.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English quyk silver, quyksilver, quikselver, from Old English cwicseolfor (“quicksilver”, literally “living silver”) (see Latin argentum vīvum) from its ability to move. See quick in the sense of "living". Cognate with Dutch kwikzilver, German Low German Quicksülver, German Quecksilber, Danish kviksølv, Norwegian Bokmål kvikksølv, Swedish kvicksilver. By surface analysis, quick (“living”) + silver.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.