serge

See also: Serge and sergé

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɜːdʒ/
• IPA^(key): /sɝdʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)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.
   • 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

• Chinese:

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

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

Verb

serge (third-person singular simple present serg, present participle ing, 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. twill, serge

Descendants

• → English: serge

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Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French cerche (“search”).

Noun

serge

1. Alternative form of serche (“search”)

Etymology 2

From Old French cerche (“edge, margin”).

Noun

serge

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

Etymology 3

From Anglo-Norman sercher.

Verb

serge

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