serge

See also: Serge and sergé

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /sɜːd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /sɝd͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

Etymology 1

From Middle English sarge, from Old French sarge, serge, from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin sērica (“silken, silk things”), from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”), possibly from Old Chinese 絲 (*sə, “silk”). Doublet of silk and seric.

Noun

serge (countable and uncountable, plural serges)

1. (textiles) A type of worsted cloth.
   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 110:

     Lucy, who had only seen her in either the large loose wrapping dress of serge, or in the quaint simplicity of the Puritanic garb, then so general in England, could not restrain an exclamation of admiration as she returned to their chamber.

   • 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:

     What I noticed most strongly was his smell, of hair oil and serge and cigarette smoke, and something else, something intimate and sour and wholly, shockingly other.

2. (by metonymy) A garment made of this fabric.

Related terms

• silk serge

Translations

type of cloth

• Bulgarian: шевиот m (ševiot)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗶嘰 / 哔叽 (zh) (bìjī)

• Galician: sarga f
• Macedonian: серж m (serž), ше́виот m (šéviot), ша́јак m (šájak)
• Portuguese: sarja (pt), sarja (pt) f
• Russian: са́ржа (ru) (sárža)

See also

• denim

Verb

serge (third-person singular simple present serges, present participle serging, simple past and past participle serged)

1. (sewing) To overlock.

Etymology 2

From Middle English cerge, from Old French ci(e)rge, cerge & chierge.

Noun

serge (plural serges)

1. A large wax candle used in some church ceremonies.

Anagrams

• Geers, Geres, Seger, egers, egres, geers, grees

French

Alternative forms

• sarge (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French sarge, from Old French sarge, from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin sērica, ultimately from the Ancient Greek σηρῐκός (sērikós, “silken”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

serge f (plural serges)

1. (textiles) twill, serge

Descendants

• → English: serge

Further reading

• “serge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French cierge, cerge, cirge, from Latin cereus (“waxy”).

Alternative forms

• cerge, serje, sherge, cirge

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛrdʒ(ə)/, /ˈsirdʒ(ə)/

Noun

serge (plural serges)

1. cierge (candle used in ceremony)

Descendants

• English: cierge
• Scots: serge, sarge (obsolete)

References

• “cerǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Noun

serge

1. Alternative form of serche (“search”)

Etymology 3

Noun

serge

1. Alternative form of serche (“cut rock”)

Etymology 4

Verb

serge

1. Alternative form of serchen (“to search”)