serein

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French serein. Doublet of serene.

Noun

serein (uncountable)

1. Light rainfall from a cloudless sky after sunset.
   • 2000, Raphael Confiant, Mamzelle Dragonfly:

     "She must have caught a chill from the serein, that's all!"

Synonyms

• serene

Anagrams

• Eisner, irenes, seiner, serine, sirene

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sə.ʁɛ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

• Homophones: sereins, serin, serins

Etymology 1

From Old French serein, probably from seri (“calm, mild”), serrit (with a change of suffix influenced by Latin serēnus), from a verb deriving from Latin serescō, serēscere (“grow dry”), itself from or related to serēnus (“cloudless”), by extension "calm, peaceful".

Adjective

serein (feminine singular sereine, masculine plural sereins, feminine plural sereines)

1. (of sky) unclouded, clear
2. (figuratively) serene, calm, tranquil

Derived terms

• sereinement

Related terms

• rasséréner
• sérénade
• sérénité

Etymology 2

Either from Latin serenum (“good weather”), or from Old French serein (“evening”), from Latin serum.

Noun

serein m (plural sereins)

1. (literary or regional) serein

Anagrams

• insère, inséré, reines, renies, résine, résiné, seiner, sirène

Further reading

• “serein” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Old French

Alternative forms

• serain

Etymology 1

From seri (“calm, mild”), serrit (with a change of suffix influenced by Latin serēnus), from a verb deriving from Latin serescō, serēscere (“grow dry”), itself from or related to serēnus (“cloudless”), by extension "calm, peaceful".

Adjective

serein m (oblique and nominative feminine singular sereine)

1. serene, calm, tranquil

Descendants

• French: serein

Etymology 2

From a derivative of Latin serum.

Noun

serein m (oblique plural sereinz, nominative singular sereinz, nominative plural serein)

1. evening

Descendants

• French: serein