Meaning

noun a fabric made from the fine threads produced by certain insect larvae

noun animal fibers produced by silkworms and other larvae that spin cocoons and by most spiders

originFrom Middle English silk, sylk, selk, selc, from Old English sioloc, seoloc, seolc (“silk”). The immediate source is uncertain; it probably reached English via the Baltic trade routes (cognates in Old Norse silki (> Danish silke, Swedish silke (“silk”)), Russian шёлк (šolk), obsolete Lithuanian zilkai̇̃), all ultimately from Late Latin sēricus, from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós), ultimately…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0