Wiktionary

sere

See also: SERE, seré, serè, serë, sére, Sêre, ṣere, and šeré

English Edit

WOTD – 10 August 2019

Pronunciation Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

From Middle English ser, sere, seare, seer, seere, seir, seyr (“dry, withered; emaciated, shrivelled; brittle; bare; dead, lifeless; barren, useless”),[1] from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, withered; barren; sere”),[2] from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry, parched”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂sews-, *sh₂ews- (“to be dry”).

Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry and coarse”), Greek αὖος (aûos, “dry”), Lithuanian sausas (“dry”), Middle Low German sôr (Low German soor (“arid, dry”)), Old Church Slavonic suχŭ (“dry”),[2]. Doublet of sear and sare.

Adjective Edit

sere (comparative serer, superlative serest)

  1. (archaic or literary, poetic) Without moisture; dry.
    Synonyms: (Britain, archaic) sare, sear; see also Thesaurus:dry
    • 1810, Walter Scott, “Canto III. The Gathering.”, in The Lady of the Lake; a Poem, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, stanza XVI, page 118:
      The autumn winds rushing / Waft the leaves that are searest, / But our flower was in flushing, / When blighting was nearest.
    • 1868, Henry Lonsdale, “The Græmes, Grames, or Grahams of the Borders”, in The Worthies of Cumberland. The Right Honourable Sir J[ames] R[obert] G[eorge] Graham, Bart. of Netherby, London: George Routledge & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 1:
      [T]he recitation of Border Minstrelsy, or a well-sung ballad, served to revive the sere and yellow leaf of age by their refreshing memories of the pleasurable past.
    • 1905, Vernon Lee [pseudonym; Violet Paget], The Enchanted Woods and Other Essays on the Genius of Places, London, New York, N.Y.: John Lane, →OCLC, page 314:
      Perhaps it is the scant, delicate detail revealing finer lines, which thus turns corners of Tuscany into an imaginary Hellas. Or perhaps the mere sunny austerity of these rocky sere places, the twitter of birds telling of renewed life, suggesting what, to us, seem the homes of the world's happy youth.
    • 1979, Pintíg: Sa Malamig Na Bakal: Lifepulse in Cold Steel: Poems and Letters from Philippine Prisons, Hong Kong: Resource Centre for Philippine Concerns, →OCLC, page 28:
      […] a blighted land / More wasted, serer than before.
    • 1984, Vernor Vinge, “The Peace War”, in Stanley Schmidt, editor, Analog Science Fiction and Fact, volume 104, New York, N.Y.: Davis Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, chapter 37, page 47, column 2:
      Except for their crawlers, and a crow flickering past in the mist, nothing moved: the grass was sere and golden, the dirt beneath white and gravelly.
  2. (archaic or literary, poetic) Of thoughts, etc.: barren, fruitless.
    • 1847, Edgar Allan Poe, Ulalume: A Ballad:
      Our talk had been serious and sober,
      But our thoughts they were palsied and sere—
      Our memories were treacherous and sere—
  3. (obsolete) Of fabrics: threadbare, worn out.
Derived terms Edit
Translations Edit

Etymology 2 Edit

From Latin serere, present active infinitive of serō (“to entwine, interlace, link together; to join in a series, string together”),[3] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind, tie together; to thread”).

Noun Edit

sere (plural seres)

  1. (ecology) A natural succession of animal or plant communities in an ecosystem, especially a series of communities succeeding one another from the time a habitat is unoccupied to the point when a climax community is achieved. [from early 20th c.]
    Synonym: seral community
    • 1980 August, Douglas C. Andersen, James A. MacMahon, Michael L. Wolfe, “Herbivorous Mammals along a Montane Sere: Community Structure and Energetics”, in Journal of Mammology‎[1], volume 61, number 3, Baltimore, Md.: American Society of Mammalogists, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 July 2018, page 501:
      We examined one of several seres found in the middle Rocky Mountains that progress from a subalpine or montane forb-dominated meadow to a climax forest dominated by Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmannii).
    • 1988 December, Walter F. Mueggler, “Approach”, in Aspen Community Types of the Intermountain Region (General Technical Report; INT-250), Ogden, Ut.: Intermountain Research Station, Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, →OCLC, page 5, column 1:
      [C]ommunity types may represent either climax plant associations or successional communities within a sere.
    • 2007, Thomas J. Stohlgren, “History and Background, Baggage and Direction”, in Measuring Plant Diversity: Lessons from the Field, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part I (The Past and Present), page 31:
      [S]ome communities persisted as repeating early successional seres ("disclimaxes"), while climax communities could contain small areas of different sere communities.
Hyponyms Edit
Derived terms Edit
Translations Edit

Etymology 3 Edit

From Old French serre (modern French serre (“talon”)), from serrer (“to grip tightly; to shut”) (modern French serrer (“to squeeze; to tighten”)), from Vulgar Latin serrāre (“to close, shut”), from Late Latin serāre, present active infinitive of serō (“to fasten with a bolt; to bar, bolt”), from sera (“bar for fastening doors”), from serō (“to bind or join together; entwine, interlace, interweave, plait”); see further at etymology 2.[4]

Noun Edit

sere (plural seres)

  1. (obsolete) A claw, a talon.

Etymology 4 Edit

From Middle English ser, sere, schere, seer, seere, seir, seyr, seyre (“different; diverse, various; distinct, individual; parted, separated; many, several”),[5] from Old Norse sér (“for oneself; separately”, dative reflexive pronoun, literally “to oneself”), from sik (“oneself, myself, yourself, herself, himself; ourselves, yourselves, themselves”),[6] from Proto-Germanic *sek (“oneself”), from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”). The English word is cognate with Danish sær (“singular”), især (“especially, particularly”), German sich (“oneself; herself, himself, itself; themselves”), Icelandic sig (“oneself; herself, himself, itself; themselves”), Latin sē (“herself, himself, itself; themselves”), Scots seir, Swedish sär (“particularly”).[6]

Adjective Edit

sere (comparative more sere, superlative most sere)

  1. (obsolete or Britain, dialectal) Individual, separate, set apart.
  2. (obsolete or Britain, dialectal) Different; diverse.
    • 1910, James Prior, “Bishoped Porridge”, in Fortuna Chance, London: Constable & Co. Ltd., →OCLC, page 316:
      Thou wert well-nee moidered [footnote: Distracted.] wi' me, I know, but it thou'd telled me, Mary, I mun do better or else we mun goo our sere-ways [footnote: Different ways.], belike I should a done better. I'm nobbut a mon, Mary, a lundy day-tale mon [footnote: Clumsy day-labourer.].
Alternative forms Edit
Derived terms Edit

References Edit

  1. ^ “sēr(e, adj.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 28 April 2019.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 “sere, sear, adj.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1912; “sere1, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. ^ “sere, n.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1986; “sere2, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. ^ “† sere, n.1”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1912.
  5. ^ “sẹ̄r(e, adj.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 28 April 2019.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 “sere, adv. and adj.2”, in OED Online  ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1912.

Further reading Edit

Anagrams Edit

Czech Edit

Pronunciation Edit

Verb Edit

sere

  1. third-person singular present indicative of srát

Friulian Edit

Etymology Edit

From Late Latin sēra, from ellipsis of Latin sēra diēs, from sērus (“late”). Compare Italian sera, Venetian séra, Romansch saira, seira, Romanian seară, French soir.

Noun Edit

sere f (plural seris)

  1. evening

Derived terms Edit

Haitian Creole Edit

Etymology Edit

From French serrer.

Verb Edit

sere

  1. tighten, squeeze

Adjective Edit

sere

  1. tight

Italian Edit

Pronunciation Edit

  • IPA(key): /ˈse.re/
  • Rhymes: -ere
  • Hyphenation: sé‧re

Noun Edit

sere f

  1. plural of sera

Anagrams Edit

Latin Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

Form of the verb serō (“I sow or plant”).

Verb Edit

sere

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of serō

Etymology 2 Edit

Form of the verb serō (“I join or weave”).

Verb Edit

sere

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of serō

Etymology 3 Edit

Form of sērus.

Adjective Edit

sēre

  1. vocative masculine singular of sērus

Leonese Edit

Etymology Edit

From Latin esse (“to be”). The present subjunctive is influenced by Latin sedeō (“sit”) (present infinitive sedēre).

Verb Edit

sere

  1. to be

Conjugation Edit

    Conjugation of sere
infinitive sere
gerund siendu
past participle singular plural
masculine síu síos
feminine sida sidas
person singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative you tú él / eilla / eillu / vusté nosoutros / nosoutras vosoutros / vosoutras eillos / eillas / vustedes
present sou yes ye somos sois, sodes son
imperfect yera yeras yera yéramos yerais, yérades yeran
preterite fui fuisti fou fuimos fuistis, {{{pret_2p_}}} fonun
pluperfect fuera fueras fuera fuéramos fuerais, fuérades fueran
future sedréi sedrás sedrá sedremos sedréis, sedredes sedrán
conditional sedría sedrías sedría sedríamos sedríais, sedríades sedrían
subjunctive you tú él / eilla / eillu / vusté nosoutros / nosoutras vosoutros / vosoutras eillos / eillas / vustedes
present seya seyas seya seyamos seyáis, seyades seyan
imperfect fuera fueras fuera fuéramos fuerais, fuérades fueran
imperative you tú él / eilla / eillu / vusté nosoutros / nosoutras vosoutros / vosoutras eillos / eillas / vustedes
— sé — — sei —

References Edit

Middle Dutch Edit

Etymology Edit

From Old Dutch sēro. Equivalent to sêer +‎ -e.

Adverb Edit

sêre

  1. strongly, very, to a great degree
  2. hard, forcefully
  3. fast, with speed

Descendants Edit

  • Dutch: zeer
  • Limburgish: zieër

Further reading Edit

Middle English Edit

Etymology 1 Edit

Inherited from Old English sēar, from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz. Doublet of sor (“sorrel”).

Alternative forms Edit

Pronunciation Edit

Adjective Edit

sere

  2. (especially referring to plants) dry, withered, shrunken, brittle
  3. (of thoughts, etc.) barren, fruitless
Descendants Edit
References Edit

Etymology 2 Edit

Borrowed from Old Norse sér, dative of sik, from Proto-Germanic *siz, dative and instrumental of *sek, from Proto-Indo-European *swé (“self”).

Alternative forms Edit

Pronunciation Edit

  • (adjective) IPA(key): /seːr/
  • (adverb) IPA(key): /ˈseːr(ə)/

Adjective Edit

sere

  2. Individual, separate, set apart.
  3. Different; diverse.
  4. Numerous, many, copious.
Descendants Edit
References Edit

Adverb Edit

sere

  1. Separately, severally.
References Edit

Etymology 3 Edit

Adjective Edit

sere

  1. Alternative form of sure

Northern Kurdish Edit

Etymology Edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation Edit

Adjective Edit

sere (Arabic spelling سەرە‎)

  1. (of people) old, aged, elderly, senior
    Synonyms: kal, mezin, pîr
    Antonyms: cahil, ciwan, naşî, xort

References Edit

  • Chyet, Michael L. (2020), “sere”, in Ferhenga Birûskî: Kurmanji–English Dictionary (Language Series; 2), volume 2, London: Transnational Press, page 236

Shona Edit

Shona cardinal numbers
 <  7 8 9  > 
    Cardinal : sere

Etymology Edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective Edit

-séré

  1. eight

Inflection Edit

Inflected forms of -séré
plural only
Class 2 vaséré
Class 4 miséré
Class 6 maséré
Class 8 zviséré
Class 10 tséré
Class 13 tuséré

Turkish Edit

Alternative forms Edit

Noun Edit

sere (definite accusative sereyi, plural sereler)

  1. (informal) a measure of distance, being the span, when spreading one’s fingers, from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the index finger.

References Edit

  • sere in Turkish dictionaries at Türk Dil Kurumu

Zazaki Edit

Etymology Edit

Related to Persian سر‎ (sar).

Noun Edit

sere

  1. (anatomy) head
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