To Shut Up
To Be Silent, To Stop Talking
intransitive verb, godan verb
Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means shut up so the verb vocab version is to shut up.
黙る means to be silent or to stop talking, with a sense of deliberately holding one's tongue. It's a neutral word to describe someone choosing not to speak, but certain forms — like 黙れ (shut up) — can sound very harsh.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
You tell your friend to shut up because he won't stop saying he's "da man (だま)." He keeps calling himself "da man" and it's really getting on your nerves, so you tell him to be silent and force him to stop talking. Guess he wasn't da man after all.
人は黙る
a person becomes silent
私は黙る
I become silent
男は黙る
a man stops talking
彼は黙る
he shuts up
どうしたの？どうして黙っているの？
What's the matter? Why aren't you talking?
彼は急に黙りこんだ。
He suddenly went silent.
その質問に、みんな黙ってしまった。
Everyone fell silent at that question.
父はいつも、怒ると黙るんですよ。
My dad always goes silent when he gets angry.
うるさい！黙れ！
You're being loud, shut up!