Word.ws English Dictionary

silex

Syllables: si·lex/ˈsaɪlɛks/

silex noun: flint.

Noun (1)

silex (countable and uncountable, plural silexes or silices)

  1. (archaic) Flint.
  2. A finely ground relatively pure form of silicas used as a paint filler etc.
    • Every little cold gust that I observed in the Colorado country had this corkscrew character […] an auger, of diameter varying from an inch to a thousand feet, capable of altering its direction so as to bore curved holes, revolving with incalculable rapidity, and armed with a cutting edge of silex.1864, Fitz-Hugh Ludlow, The Atlantic

Noun (2) capitalized: Silex

Silex (plural Silexes)

  1. (dated) A vacuum coffee maker.
    • The Navy uses several types of coffee makers – urns, silexes, and percolators. Each type requires special care in making good coffee.1965, Stewardsman, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 31
    • Remembering my daily habits, Papa-san brewed the coffee and before I had completed a local phone call, he was serving it piping hot from the Silex, still grinning as he thought of other days of coffee-making.1968, The History of the Chaplain Corps, United States Navy, United States. Bureau of Naval Personnel, page 143

Forms of silex

pluralsilexes
pluralsilices
pluralSilexes

Origin of silex

Borrowed from Latin silex.

Brand name.

Words formed from silex

Questions about silex

What does silex mean?
Silex means flint.
What part of speech is silex?
Silex is a noun.
How do you pronounce silex?
Silex is pronounced /ˈsaɪlɛks/.
What is the plural of silex?
The plural of silex is silexes.

Words near silex in the dictionary

  1. Silesians
  2. silesias
  3. siletane
  4. siletanes
  5. Siletz
  6. silex
  7. silexes
  8. silexite
  9. silf
  10. silfe
  11. Silfies

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: silex (page history and authors); Silex (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Pvanp7-silex.wav.

Cite this entry: “silex.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/silex. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.