silver-tongued

WOTD – 9 September 2024

Etymology

From silver (“(noun) lustrous, white, metallic element; (adjective) consisting or made of silver; (figurative) soft and clear in sound; eloquent”) +‎ tongued (“having a particular manner of speaking”), referring to the clear musical tone produced when silver is struck.^[1]^[2]^[3]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪlvəˈtʌŋd/
(General American) IPA^(key): /ˌsɪlvəɹˈtʌŋd/
Audio (General Australian): (file)
Hyphenation: sil‧ver-tongued

Adjective

silver-tongued (comparative more silver-tongued, superlative most silver-tongued)

(idiomatic, informal) Articulate and charming in speech; eloquent; also, having a pleasant-sounding voice or way of speaking.
(articulate): Synonyms: glib, golden-tongued, honey-mouthed, honey-tongued, sweet-spoken

(pleasant-sounding): Synonyms: birdsweet, dulcet, mellifluent, mellifluous; see also Thesaurus:euphonious

silver-tongued devil
- 1592, Thomas Nash[e], Pierce Penilesse His Supplication to the Deuill. […], London: […] [John Charlewood for] Richard Ihones, […], →OCLC, signature D3, verso:
  Siluer tongu'd Smith whoſe well tun'd ſtile hath made thy death the generall teares of the Muſes, queintlie couldſt thou deuiſe heauenly Ditties to Apollos Lute, and teach ſtately verſe to trip it as ſmoothly, as if Ouid and thou had but one ſoule.
- 1791, W[illiam] Hutton, “Eminent Men”, in The History of Derby; from the Remote Ages of Antiquity, to the Year MDCCXCI. […], London: […] J[ohn] Nichols, and sold by G[eorge] G. J. & J. Robinson, […], →OCLC, pages 284–285:
  Mr. [Thomas] Parker ſoon became a pleader at the bar; travelled the Midland circuit; acquired additional eſteem, buſineſs, and property; vvas denominated the Silver-tongued Counſel; and found intereſt enough, in 1705, to cauſe himſelf to be returned a member for the borough, vvith Lord James Cavendiſh, ſon to the firſt Duke of Devonſhire.
- 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter I, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume II (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 8:
  [T]he statesman, whose inward feelings had at first so much impeded his efforts to make himself known, had now regained all the ease and fluency of a silver-tongued lawyer of the very highest order.
- 1979, Gustav Hasford, The Short-Timers, New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, published 1980, →ISBN, page 20:
  Philips—Sergeant Gerheim's black, silver-tongued House Mouse—is telling everybody about the one thousand cherries he has busted.

Derived terms

silver tongue (probably, as it is attested later than the adjective)

Translations

articulate and charming in speech — see also eloquent

Dutch: bespraakt (nl), eloquent (nl), welbespraakt (nl), welsprekend (nl)
Finnish: hyvä suustaan, sujuvapuheinen, sukkela (fi), supliikki (fi), taitavakielinen, taitavapuheinen
French: beau parleur (fr)
Galician: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: aranyszájú (hu), ékesszóló (hu)
Polish: elokwentny (pl), wygadany (informal), wyszczekany (derogatory), złotousty (pl)
Russian: красноречи́вый (ru) (krasnorečívyj), златоу́стый (zlatoústyj)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: злато̀уст

Roman: zlatòust (sh)
Spanish: de voz encantador
Thai: ปากเก่ง (bpàak-gèng, literally “smart mouth”) (sarcastic)
Ukrainian: please add this translation if you can

having a pleasant-sounding voice or way of speaking

Finnish: kaunopuheinen (way of speaking)
Galician: please add this translation if you can

References

[1]
“silver-tongued, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2023.
[2]
“silver-tongued, adj.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.
[3]
“silver, n. and adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2024; “silver, n., adj., and v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.