'silver-like' originates from English, specifically the noun 'silver' (from Old English 'seolfor') combined with the suffix '-like' (from Old English '-līc'), where 'seolfor' referred to the metal 'silver' and '-līc' meant 'having the body or form of'.

'silver' changed from Old English 'seolfor' (also 'sylfor') and ultimately from a Proto-Germanic form into the modern English 'silver'; the element '-like' developed from Old English '-līc' and later became the productive Modern English suffix '-like', and the compound 'silver-like' formed in Modern English by combining these elements.

Initially, 'silver' referred specifically to the metal and '-līc' meant 'having the form of'; over time the compound came to mean 'resembling silver' in appearance or quality rather than denoting the substance itself.