from
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
Silicon \Sil"i*con\, n. [See {Silica}.] (Chem.)
A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurs
combined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free
state, usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark
crystalline substance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is
silica, or common quartz, and in this form, or as silicates,
it is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element of the
earth's crust. Silicon is characteristically the element of
the mineral kingdom, as carbon is of the organic world.
Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called also {silicium}.
[1913 Webster]