serge

See also: Serge and sergé

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɜːdʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /sɝdʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French serge, replacing an older borrowing from Middle French sarge, from Old French, from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin sērica (“silk garments”).

Noun

serge (countable and uncountable, plural serges)

1. (textiles) A type of worsted cloth.
   • 1834, Letitia Elizabeth Landon, Francesca Carrara, volume 3, 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

• denim

Translations

type of cloth

• Bulgarian: шевиот m (ševiot)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嗶嘰／哔叽 (zh) (bìjī), 哔叽 (zh) (bìjī)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Galician: sarga f
• Portuguese: sarja (pt), sarja (pt) f
• Russian: са́ржа (ru) (sárža)

Verb

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

1. (sewing) To overlock.

Etymology 2

From French cierge.

Noun

serge (plural serges)

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

Anagrams

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

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French

Alternative forms

• sarge (obsolete)

Etymology

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.

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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”)