How to spell silence

hear itsi·lence/'saɪləns/nounSchwa and roots

What it means: The state of being quiet or free from sound.

In a sentence: The teacher asked for silence in the classroom.

The part people get wrong

Watch for a silent c, and an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear. Often misspelled as silance or sillence.

Same family: silent, silently, silencer, silenced, silencing. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: “Silence” comes from Latin “silentium” and the verb “silere,” meaning “to be quiet.” Over time, English kept both the idea of no sound and the idea of not speaking or revealing information, which is why silence can also mean keeping a secret.

Patterns it uses: The unstressed vowel (schwa)

Try spelling it

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