series

See also: séries, seríes, sériés, and sèries

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin seriēs, from serere (“to join together, bind”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪə.ɹiːz/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹiz/, /ˈsiɹiz/
• Homophones: Siri's, Siris, Ceres

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

series (plural series)

1. A number of things that follow on one after the other or are connected one after the other.

   Synonyms: chain, line, sequence, stream, succession; see also Thesaurus:sequence

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 19, in The China Governess‎^[1]:

     When Timothy and Julia hurried up the staircase to the bedroom floor, where a considerable commotion was taking place, Tim took Barry Leach with him. […]. The captive made no resistance and came not only quietly but in a series of eager little rushes like a timid dog on a choke chain.

   • 2013 June 28, Joris Luyendijk, “Our banks are out of control”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 3, page 21:

     Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. When a series of bank failures made this impossible, there was widespread anger, leading to the public humiliation of symbolic figures.

   A series of seemingly inconsequential events led cumulatively to the fall of the company.

2. (broadcasting) A television or radio program which consists of several episodes that are broadcast in regular intervals

   Synonyms: show, program

   “Friends” was one of the most successful television series in recent years.

3. (Discuss⁽⁺⁾ this sense) (mathematics) The sequence of partial sums $\sum _{i=1}^{n}{a_{i}}$ of a given sequence a_i.

   The harmonic series has been much studied.

4. (cricket, baseball) A group of matches between two sides, with the aim being to win more matches than the opposition.

   The Blue Jays are playing the Yankees in a four-game series.

5. (zoology) An unranked taxon.
7. (botany) A subdivision of a genus, a taxonomic rank below that of section (and subsection) but above that of species.
8. (commerce) A parcel of rough diamonds of assorted qualities.
9. (phonology) A set of consonants that share a particular phonetic or phonological feature.

Usage notes

• (mathematics): Beginning students often confuse series with sequence.

Derived terms

• in series
• (media, television) TV series
• (electrical) series-wound

mathematics

• arithmetic series
• basic hypergeometric series
• confluent hypergeometric series
• formal power series
• geometric series
• hypergeometric series
• power series

 

Related terms

• serial
• seriate
• seriatim
• seriation

 

Descendants

• → Japanese: シリーズ (shirīzu)

Translations

a number of things that follow on one after the other

• Catalan: sèrie (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 系列 (zh) (xìliè)

• Czech: série (cs) f
• Danish: serie ?
• Dutch: serie (nl) f
• Esperanto: serio (eo)
• Finnish: sarja (fi)
• French: suite (fr) f, série (fr) f
• Galician: serie (gl) f
• German: Serie (de) f
• Greek: σειρά (el) f (seirá), αλληλουχία (el) f (allilouchía)
• Hebrew: סִדְרָה‎ (he) f (sidrá)
• Hungarian: sorozat (hu)
• Icelandic: röð (is) f
• Italian: serie (it) f
• Japanese: 系列 (ja) (けいれつ, keiretsu)
• Korean: 계열 (gyeyeol)
• Latin: seriēs f
• Maori: raupapa, raupapatanga, rangatū

• Norwegian: serie f
• Persian: سری‎ (fa) (seri)
• Polish: seria (pl) f, cykl (pl) m
• Portuguese: série (pt) f, sequência (pt) f
• Romanian: serie (ro) f, șir (ro) n
• Russian: се́рия (ru) f (sérija), после́довательность (ru) f (poslédovatelʹnostʹ)
• Sanskrit: क्रम (sa) m (krama)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: се̑рија f

  Roman: sȇrija (sh) f

• Sicilian: seria f
• Spanish: serie (es) f
• Swahili: msururu (sw) class 3/4
• Swedish: serie (sv) c, svit (sv) c
• Tagalog: dalayray
• Turkish: seri (tr)
• Ukrainian: ряд (uk) ? (rjad), се́рія ? (sérija)
• Volapük: sökod (vo)
• Yiddish: סעריע‎ f (serye)

television or radio program

• Arabic: مُسَلْسَلَات تِلِفِزْيُونِيَّة‎ f pl (musalsalāt tilifizyūniyya) (TV), مُسَلْسِلَات‎ pl (musalsilāt)
• Armenian: սերիալ (hy) (serial), հեռուստաշոու (hy) (heṙustašou)
• Belarusian: тэлесерыя́л m (teljesjeryjál), серыя́л m (sjeryjál)
• Catalan: sèrie (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 電視連續劇, 电视连续剧 (diànshì liánxùjù) (TV), 電視劇 (zh), 电视剧 (zh) (diànshìjù) (TV), 連續劇 (zh), 连续剧 (zh) (liánxùjù)

• Crimean Tatar: serial
• Czech: seriál m
• Danish: tv-serie (da) c
• Dutch: reeks (nl) f, serie (nl) f
• Faroese: sendirøð f
• Finnish: sarja (fi)
• French: série (fr) f
• Georgian: სერიალი (seriali), ტელესერიალი (ṭeleseriali) (TV)
• German: Serie (de) f, Fernsehserie (de) f (TV)
• Greek: σειρά (el) f (seirá)
• Hebrew: סִדְרָה‎ (he) f (sidrá)
• Hindi: टी वी श्रृंखला ? (ṭī vī śrŕṅkhlā) (TV), श्रृंखला (hi) ? (śrŕṅkhlā)
• Hungarian: sorozat (hu)
• Icelandic: þáttaröð f, þættir m pl
• Italian: serie (it) f
• Japanese: テレビシリーズ (terebi shirīzu) (TV), シリーズ (ja) (shirīzu), ドラマ (ja) (dorama) ("drama"), テレビドラマ (terebi dorama) (TV series, TV drama)

• Korean: 티뷔 시리즈 (tibwi sirijeu) (TV), 시리즈 (ko) (sirijeu), 드라마 (ko) (deurama) ("drama"), 연속극 (ko) (yeonsokgeuk)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: (TV) fjernsynsserie m

  Nynorsk: (TV) fjernsynsserie m

• Persian: مجموعه تلویزیونی‎ (majmu'e-ye televizioni) (TV), مجموعه‎ (fa) (majmu'e), سریال‎ (fa) (seriâl)
• Polish: serial (pl) m
• Portuguese: série (pt) f, seriado (pt) m
• Romanian: serie (ro) f, serial (ro) n
• Russian: телесериа́л (ru) m (teleseriál) (TV), сериа́л (ru) m (seriál), се́рия (ru) f (sérija) (one episode/part), шо́у (ru) n (šóu), телешо́у (ru) n (telešóu)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: се̑рија f, ни̏за̄нка f

  Roman: sȇrija (sh) f, nȉzānka (sh) f

• Sicilian: seria f
• Spanish: serie (es) f
• Swedish: serie (sv) c, följetong (sv) ? (especially radio)
• Tagalog: dugtungan
• Thai: ซีรีส์ (sii-rîi), รายการชุด
• Ukrainian: телесеріа́л m (teleseriál), серіа́л m (seriál)
• Vietnamese: xê-ri, loạt (vi)
• Volapük: sökod (vo), televidasökod, radionasökod, (radio / TV episode) näijenot

in analysis: sum of the terms of a sequence

• Arabic: مُتَسَلْسِلَة‎ f (mutasalsila), سِلْسِلَة‎ f (silsila)
• Catalan: sèrie (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 级数 (zh)

• Czech: řada (cs) f
• Danish: række (da) c
• Dutch: reeks (nl) f
• Finnish: sarja (fi)
• French: série (fr) f
• German: Reihe (de) f
• Greek: σύνολο (el) n (sýnolo)
• Hebrew: טור‎ (he) ?
• Hungarian: sor (hu)
• Italian: serie (it) f
• Norwegian: rekke (no) m or f

• Persian: سری‎ (fa) (seri)
• Polish: szereg (pl) m
• Portuguese: série (pt) f
• Romanian: serie (ro) f
• Russian: ряд (ru) m (rjad)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ре̑д m

  Roman: rȇd (sh) m

• Sicilian: seria f
• Spanish: serie (es) f
• Swedish: serie (sv) c, oändlig summa c, summa (sv) c
• Tagalog: dalayray
• Ukrainian: ряд (uk) ? (rjad)
• Urdu: سلسلہ‎ m (silsila)

Adjective

series (not comparable)

A series circuit

1. (electronics) Connected one after the other in a circuit.

   You have to connect the lights in series for them to work properly.

   Antonym: parallel

Further reading

• series in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• series in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• series at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• reises, ressie

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Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /səˈɾi.əs/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /seˈɾi.es/

Verb

series

1. second-person singular conditional form of ser

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

series

1. Plural form of serie

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Interlingua

Noun

series

1. plural of serie

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Latin

Etymology

From serō (“to bind”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ri.eːs/, [ˈsɛ.ri.eːs]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈse.ri.es/, [ˈsɛː.ri.ɛs]

Noun

seriēs f (genitive seriēī); fifth declension

1. a row
2. a succession
3. a series
4. a chain

Declension

Fifth-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	seriēs	seriēs
Genitive	seriēī	seriērum
Dative	seriēī	seriēbus
Accusative	seriem	seriēs
Ablative	seriē	seriēbus
Vocative	seriēs	seriēs

Descendants

• Albanian: sërë
• Catalan: sèrie
• English: series
• French: série
• Italian: serie
• Portuguese: série
• Romanian: serie
• Russian: се́рия (sérija)
• Spanish: serie

References

• series in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• series in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• series in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• series in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

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Portuguese

Verb

series

1. second-person singular (tu) present subjunctive of seriar
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) negative imperative of seriar

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈseɾjes/

Noun

series

1. plural of serie

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Swedish

Noun

series

1. indefinite genitive singular of serie