Wiktionary

silo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "silo"

English

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grain silos

Etymology

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From Spanish silo, of unclear origin. See Spanish silo for more.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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silo (plural silos or siloes)

  1. (agriculture) A vertical building, usually cylindrical, used for the production of silage.
  2. (agriculture) From the shape, a building used for the storage of grain.
    Synonyms: granary, grain elevator
  3. (military) An underground bunker used to hold missiles which may be launched.
    • 1987, Michio Kaku, Daniel Axelrod, To Win a Nuclear War: The Pentagon's Secret War Plans, Black Rose Books Ltd., →ISBN, page 203:
      As a rule of thumb, to reliably destroy a hardened missile silo or communications bunker, a one megaton warhead should land within a 600 foot radius of its target. This will ensure that the enemy silo lies within the crater gouged out by the nuclear blast.
  4. (informal, derogatory, management) An organizational unit that has poor interaction with other units, negatively affecting overall performance.
    • 2006, Albert J. Mills, Jean C. Helms Mills, John Bratton, Organizational Behaviour in a Global Context, page 116:
      A silo is created when members in one department or function do not interact with those in another department, even though there might be operational benefits to the interaction.
    • 2021 May 5, Tony Streeter, “Network News: Disused structures "assets to be preserved", say MPs”, in RAIL, number 930, page 23:
      Graeme Bickerdike, a member of campaign organisation The HRE Group, told RAIL: "This infilling and demolition programme - costing much more than repair - has been conceived with no thought for its impact beyond the silos where distant, unaccountable officials manage their spreadsheets.
    • 2024 February 7, Lee Waters tells Conrad Landin, “A mission to improve transport for Wales”, in RAIL, number 1002, page 34:
      "And the mindset of a silo of rail engineers, and a silo of highway engineers, and a silo of bus experts, and a silo of active travel people, you're not going to integrate just because you put them in one organisation.
      "You have to actively look at ways to cross-fertilise that thinking, to get multi-modal projects hard-wired in. And from our view, I see TfW as a behaviour change organisation.
  5. (informal, derogatory, informatics) A structure in the information system that is poorly networked with other structures, with data exchange hampered.
    Synonym: information silo
    Our networking is organized in silos, and employees lose time manually transferring data.
  6. (derogatory, slang) A group of like-minded individuals who are not exposed to outside opinions or input.
    Synonym: echo chamber
  7. (computing) In Microsoft Windows operating systems, a kernel object for isolating groups of threads.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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silo (third-person singular simple present siloes or silos, present participle siloing, simple past and past participle siloed)

  1. (transitive) To store in a silo.
    Synonym: ensile
  2. (transitive) To separate; to isolate.
    • 2024 June 26, Stephanie McNeal, “Influencers Aren’t Getting Famous Like They Used To”, in Glamour‎[1]:
      Then there’s the fact that platforms like TikTok tend to silo users based on interests. Niche communities (insert hobby here plus Tok) are thriving, and so a person who may be famous on FarmTok or BookTok may have trouble breaking out of the mold.
    • 2025 September 3, Emi Nietfeld, Wired‎[2], archived from the original on 3 September 2025:
      Sheel Mohnot, a venture capitalist friend of Bi’s who has commissioned twiblings, said the problem is that information is siloed when “each agency has their own database of wombs.”

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Czech

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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    Borrowed from Spanish silo.

    Noun

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    silo n

    1. silo (vertical building for storing grain)
    Declension
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    This noun needs an inflection-table template.

    Etymology 2

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    See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

    Participle

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    silo

    1. neuter singular past active participle of sít
      Synonym: selo

    Further reading

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    Dutch

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    Etymology

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    Borrowed from Spanish silo or French silo (itself from Spanish), perhaps from Latin sirus, from Ancient Greek σιρός (sirós); alternatively from Basque zilo, zulo.

    Pronunciation

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    • IPA(key): /ˈsi.loː/
    • Audio:(file)
    • Hyphenation: si‧lo

    Noun

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    silo m (plural silo's, diminutive silootje n)

    1. a silo (building for storage)

    Derived terms

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    Descendants

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    • → Caribbean Hindustani: silo
    • → Indonesian: silo

    French

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    Etymology

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      Borrowed from Spanish silo.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      silo m (plural silos)

      1. silo (vertical building for storing grain)
      2. silo (underground missile facility)

      Further reading

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      Anagrams

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      Indonesian

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      Indonesian Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia id

      Etymology

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      Borrowed from Dutch silo, from Spanish silo or French silo (itself from Spanish), perhaps from Latin sirus, from Ancient Greek σιρός (sirós); alternatively from Basque zilo, zulo. Semantic loan from English silo.

      Pronunciation

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      Noun

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      silo (plural silo-silo)

      1. silo
        1. (agriculture) vertical building for storing grain
        2. (military) an underground bunker used to hold missiles which may be launched.
        3. (management) an organizational unit that has poor interaction with other units, negatively affecting overall performance.

      Further reading

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      Italian

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      Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
      Wikipedia it

      Alternative forms

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      Etymology

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        Borrowed from Spanish silo.

        Pronunciation

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        • IPA(key): /ˈsi.lo/
        • Rhymes: -ilo
        • Hyphenation: sì‧lo

        Noun

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        silo m (plural sili or silos)

        1. (agriculture) silo (vertical building for storing grain)
        2. (transferred sense, military) silo (underground missile facility)

        References

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        • “silo”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

        Anagrams

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        Norwegian Bokmål

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        Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
        Wikipedia no

        Etymology

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        From Spanish silo.

        Noun

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        silo m (definite singular siloen, indefinite plural siloer, definite plural siloene)

        1. a silo

        Derived terms

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        References

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        Norwegian Nynorsk

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        Norwegian Nynorsk Wikipedia has an article on:
        Wikipedia nn

        Etymology

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        From Spanish silo.

        Noun

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        silo m (definite singular siloen, indefinite plural siloar, definite plural siloane)

        1. a silo

        Derived terms

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        References

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        Portuguese

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        Etymology

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          Borrowed from Spanish silo.[1][2]

          Pronunciation

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          • Rhymes: -ilu
          • Hyphenation: si‧lo

          Noun

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          silo m (plural silos)

          1. (agriculture) silo (vertical building for storing grain)
          2. (military) silo (underground missile facility)

          References

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          1. ^ “silo”, in Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
          2. ^ “silo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

          Further reading

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          Serbo-Croatian

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          Noun

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          silo (Cyrillic spelling сило)

          1. vocative singular of sila

          Spanish

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          Etymology

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          Of unclear origin. Perhaps from Latin sirum, the accusative form of sirus (“pit for corn, underground granary”) (compare Latin sīromastes (“pit-searcher”), from Ancient Greek σειρομάστης (seiromástēs)), from Ancient Greek σιρός (sirós, “pit for holding grain”). Alternatively, perhaps from Basque zilo, zulo (“hole”), as silos in the area are typically dug down as opposed to built up. If so, it is a doublet of zulo.

          Pronunciation

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          • IPA(key): /ˈsilo/ [ˈsi.lo]
          • Rhymes: -ilo
          • Syllabification: si‧lo

          Noun

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          silo m (plural silos)

          1. (agriculture, military) silo

          Derived terms

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          Descendants

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          See also

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          Further reading

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          Swahili

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          Verb

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          silo

          1. ji class(V) object of si-; that is not it
            Antonym: ndilo

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          Emphatic copula negative (si-)
          singular plural
          1st person simi, siye sio
          2nd person siwe, siye sinyi, sio
          3rd
          person           		m-wa(I/II) siye sio
          m-mi(III/IV) sio siyo
          ji-ma(V/VI) silo siyo
          ki-vi(VII/VIII) sicho sivyo
          n(IX/X) siyo sizo
          u(XI) sio see n(X) or ma(VI)
          ku(XV/XVII) siko
          pa(XVI) sipo
          mu(XVIII) simo

          For a full table, see Appendix:Swahili personal pronouns.

          Swazi

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          Noun

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          sílo class 7 (plural tílo class 8)

          1. lion

          Inflection

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          This noun needs an inflection-table template.

          Swedish

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          Noun

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          silo c

          1. (agriculture) a silo
          2. (military) a silo

          Declension

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          Declension of silo
          nominative genitive
          singular indefinite silo silos
          definite silon silons
          plural indefinite silos, silor silos, silors
          definite silorna, silosarna silornas, silosarnas

          References

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          Tagalog

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          Pronunciation

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          Noun

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          silò (Baybayin spelling ᜐᜒᜎᜓ)

          1. lasso; lariat; rope or cord with a running noose (for catching animals)
          2. noose at the end of a lariat
          3. act of catching an animal with a lariat
            Synonym: pagsilo
          4. (figurative) trick to catch an unsuspecting person; trap
            Synonyms: patibong, umang

          Derived terms

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          See also

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          Anagrams

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          Zulu

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          Noun

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          silo class 7

          1. simple singular of isílo
          Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=silo&oldid=91371714"