In the Soliloquy lexicon
sere
/sɪə/
adjective
Dry, withered, or no longer green, especially of vegetation.
Used in a sentence
The sere grass crackled beneath their boots.
Where it comes from
From Old English sēar “dry, withered,” ultimately from Proto-Germanic sauzaz “dry, sour,” from Proto-Indo-European seh₂u- “sharp, bitter.”
Its journey
Sere was born in Old English as sear, meaning “dry” or “withered”. Its Germanic ancestor likely came from an Indo-European root meaning “to dry”, kin to words that later developed sourness as a sense of dryness or sharpness. Through Middle English it settled into the poetic-looking form sere, still used for vegetation gone brown and lifeless.
Nearby words
Keep sere — and watch it become a star.
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