silicon

• enPR: sĭl'ĭkən, (UK, US, Canada, General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlɪkən/

  • Audio (General American); /ˈsɪlɪkən/:

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  • Audio (New Jersey); /ˈsɪlɪkən/:

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• enPR: sĭl'ĭkŏn′
  • (Received Pronunciation, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪləkɒn/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪləˌkɑn/

  • Audio (General American); /ˈsɪləkɒn/:

    (file)

Coined by Scottish chemist Thomas Thomson as a modification of the earlier name silicium, from the stem of Latin silex (“flint, silica”) + -on from carbon.

silicon (usually uncountable, plural silicons)

2. (chemistry, uncountable) A nonmetallic element (symbol Si) with an atomic number of 14 and atomic weight of 28.0855.

   Synonyms: (obsolete) silicium, (obsolete) silicum

   • 1970, James W[alter] Mayer, Lennart Eriksson, John A[rthur] Davies, “General Features of Ion Implantation”, in Ion Implantation in Semiconductors: Silicon and Germanium, New York, N.Y.: Academic Press, →OCLC, page 5:

     The isolated disordered regions and the amorphous layer have widely different anneal behavior. In the case of germanium and silicon, the isolated disordered regions anneal at moderate temperatures of approximately 200° and 300° C, respectively. The amorphous layers also anneal in a characteristic fashion, but at appreciably higher temperatures, i.e., at approximately 600° C in silicon and 400° C in germanium.

   • 2007 September 11, John Markoff, “Redefining the Architecture of Memory”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 9 November 2020:

     His idea is to stand billions of ultrafine wire loops around the edge of a silicon chip — hence the name racetrack — and use electric current to slide infinitesimally small magnets up and down along each of the wires to be read and written as digital ones and zeros.

3. (chemistry, countable) A single atom of this element.

Do not confuse silicon with silicone.

• agate
• amethyst
• asbestos
• clay
• feldspar
• flint
• glass
• granite
• hornblende
• jasper
• mica
• opal
• quartz
• rock crystal
• sand

From the silicon chips used in computers.

silicon (uncountable)

1. (slang) Computing.
2. (slang) A computer processor.
3. Abbreviation of silicon chip.

• silicon lottery

• David Barthelmy (1997–2025) “Silicon”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “silicon”, in Mindat.org‎^[2], Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2025.

Borrowed from French silicone.

silicon m (plural siliconi)

1. (chemistry) silicone

silicon n (plural silicoane)

1. (informal, chiefly in the plural) breast implant

• siliciu

Borrowed from English silicon, a modification of silicium, from Latin silex (“flint, silica”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɪlɪˌkɔn/
• Rhymes: -ɪlɪkɔn

silicon m (uncountable, not mutable)

1. Synonym: callestrai

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “silicon”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies