quicksilver
US/ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/
quicksilver noun: the metal mercury.
Noun
quicksilver (uncountable)
- The metal mercury.
- Synonyms:
- mercury, hydrargyrum
- An amalgam of mercury and tin applied to the backs of mirrors; quicksilvering.
Adjective
quicksilver (not comparable)
- Unpredictable, erratic, or fickle; mercurial.
- Summer is not the most auspicious season for theater in New York. Aside from a few certifiable Broadway hits, it is, in fact, a rather quicksilver commodity.1978 August 19, Kevin Warren, “A Flawless Production”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 5, page 15
- The idea of a merchant selling both totems of pure evil and frozen yogurt (he calls it frogurt!) is amusing in itself, as is the idea that frogurt could be cursed, but it’s really the Shopkeeper’s quicksilver shift from ominous doomsaying to chipper salesmanship that sells the sequence.2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)
Verb
quicksilver (third-person singular simple present quicksilvers, present participle quicksilvering, simple past and past participle quicksilvered)
quicksilver meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
quicksilver in Hindi
- quicksilver, mercury
- पारद pārad
quicksilver in Tamil
- quicksilver
- சுசி cuci
quicksilver in Marathi
- quicksilver
- पारा pārā
quicksilver in Urdu
- quicksilver, mercury
- رس ras
More languagesFewer languages
- quicksilver in Bengali
- পারদ, পারদের মতো চঞ্চল
- quicksilver in Telugu
- రేతస్సు rētassu
- quicksilver in Malayalam
- രസലോഹം, സിദ്ധരസം, ചചലം
- quicksilver in Kannada
- ಪಾರಜ pāraja, ಪಾದರಸ pādarasa
- quicksilver in Punjabi
- ਪਾਰਾ pārā
- quicksilver in Sanskrit
- सूत sūta, पार pāra, रेत्र retra, पारद pārada
- quicksilver in Persian
- سیماب simâb, جیوه jive, ژیوه žive
- quicksilver in Vietnamese
- thuỷ ngân, thủy ngân
Synonyms of quicksilver
Forms of quicksilver
| third-person singular present | quicksilvers |
|---|---|
| present participle | quicksilvering |
| past participle | quicksilvered |
| past | quicksilvered |
Origin of quicksilver
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.
Words formed from quicksilver
Phrases with quicksilver
Questions about quicksilver
- What does quicksilver mean?
- Quicksilver means the metal mercury.
- What is quicksilver in Hindi?
- Quicksilver in Hindi is पारद (pārad). See Quicksilver meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is quicksilver?
- Quicksilver can be a noun, an adjective or a verb.
- How do you pronounce quicksilver?
- Quicksilver is pronounced /ˈkwɪkˌsɪlvɚ/ (US).
Words near quicksilver in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: quicksilver (page history and authors); पारद (Hindi) (page history and authors); சுசி (Tamil) (page history and authors); पारा (Marathi) (page history and authors); رس (Urdu) (page history and authors); quicksilver (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); రేతస్సు (Telugu) (page history and authors); quicksilver (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); पार (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-quicksilver.wav.
Cite this entry: “quicksilver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quicksilver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.