silentium
[sɪˈɫɛn.ti.ũː]neuter
Silence in Latin is silentium.
silentium means silence, a lack of sound. On its own, Silentium! is a call for silence. To tell people to be quiet, Latin also has pax!
Meaning: lack of sound (noun)
What does it mean word for word?
silentium comes from the verb silere, to be silent or still.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
silentium is a neuter noun of the second declension. Its genitive singular is silentii, and the ablative form silentio appears in phrases like Silentio facto.
Did you know?
- In ecclesiastical Latin, silentium refers to the 'Great Silence', a prescribed period of total quiet observed by monks from the evening prayer until the first prayer of the morning.
- Ancient Roman rhetoricians viewed silentium not as a void, but as a powerful tool of persuasion used to create tension before a key point in a speech.
- In early Christian Latin texts, silentium evolved to describe a specific spiritual discipline of inner stillness and contemplation, moving beyond physical quiet.
Examples in context
- Erat silentium in silva.There was silence in the woods.silentium is the subject here, there was silence.Tatoeba #11770795 by soridsolid, translation #9199649 by sundown
- Silentio facto.With silence being obtained.Silentio facto is an ablative phrase meaning once silence was made.
- Silentium!Silence!Silentium! on its own is a command for quiet.Tatoeba #1177730 by Hans07, translation #2246300 by Hybrid
- In bibliotheca, silentium est necessarium.In the library, silence is crucial.
- 8 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Claudia and Gaius are entering a library.
- ClaudiaHic locus silentium requirit.This place requires silence.
- GaiusIta, Claudia, tacebo.Yes, Claudia, I will be quiet.
- ClaudiaSilentium est optimum ad legendum.Silence is best for reading.
- GaiusConcordo tecum, amica.I agree with you, friend.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “silence” translations and entries silentium, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR, Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
