silt

Etymology

From Middle English silte, cilte, cylte, perhaps from Middle English silen ("to filter; strain"; equivalent to sile + -t), or cognate with Norwegian and Danish sylt (“salt marsh”), Middle Low German sulte (“salt-marsh”), German Sülze (“meat in aspic”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sultijō (“salty water; brine”). Related to Old English sealt (“salt”).

noun

1. (uncountable) Mud or fine earth deposited from running or standing water.
2. (uncountable, by extension) Material with similar physical characteristics, whatever its origins or transport.
3. (countable, geology) A particle from 3.9 to 62.5 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

verb

1. (transitive) To clog or fill with silt.
2. (intransitive) To become clogged with silt.
3. (transitive, intransitive) To flow through crevices; to percolate.