silt

Meaning

Noun

1. (uncountable) Mud or fine earth deposited from running or standing water.
2. (broadly, uncountable) Any material with similar physical characteristics, regardless of its origins or transport.
3. (countable) A particle from 3.9 to 62.5 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

Verb

1. (transitive) To clog or fill with silt.
2. (intransitive) To become clogged with silt.
3. (ambitransitive) To flow through crevices; to percolate.

Synonyms

ooze

mud

slime

mire

sediment

sludge

alluvium

deposit

lees

blackish mud

slush

slurry

precipitate

puddle

silt up

dregs

shallow

silting

slab

slosh

soil

subside

suspension

drift-wood

mud accumulation

rock flour

etc and deposited

mud silting

mud filling

alluvial soil

inorganic silt

bemire

clay

debris

dirt

draggle

gratings

gumbo

loam

mortar

muddy

refuse

rubbish

sand

seaweeds

settle

Translations

limon

cieno

limo

Schluff

limo

Schlamm

Schlick

vase

silte

verschlammen

sedimento

llim

insabbiare

Pronounced as (IPA)

/sɪlt/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: silte

Cognate with Middle Low German: sulte

Cognate with German: Sülze

Cognate with Old English: sealt

In summary

PIE word
*séh₂ls
From Middle English silte, cilte, cylte, perhaps from Middle English silen ("to filter; strain"; equivalent to sile + -t), or cognate with Norwegian and Danish sylt (“salt marsh”), Middle Low German sulte (“salt-marsh”), German Sülze (“meat in aspic”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“salty water; brine”). Related to Old English sealt (“salt”).