Etymograph

English

serai

Serai comes from Persian سرای ‘courtyard’, from Middle Persian slʾd ‘hall, house’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- ‘to cross over’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₂-1‘to cross over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*trā-yo-1reconstructedsuffixed form of *terh₂-
  3. Proto-Iranianprehistoric (reconstructed)*thrāya1‘to protect’reconstructed
  4. Old Persianc. 600–300 BCE*srāda1reconstructed
  5. Middle Persianc. 300 BCE–900 CEslʾd1srāy‘hall, house’
  6. Persianc. 900–presentسرای2sarây‘courtyard’
  7. Englishtodayserai2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Persian سرای
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English serai

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*terh₂-Wiktionary, Persian سرای‘to cross over’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*trā-yo-Wiktionary, Persian سرایreconstructedsuffixed form of *terh₂-
  3. Proto-Iranianprehistoric (reconstructed)*thrāyaWiktionary, Persian سرای‘to protect’reconstructed
  4. Old Persianc. 600–300 BCE*srādaWiktionary, Persian سرایreconstructed
  5. Middle Persianc. 300 BCE–900 CEslʾdWiktionary, Persian سرایsrāy‘hall, house’
  6. Persianc. 900–presentسرایWiktionary, English seraisarây‘courtyard’
  7. EnglishtodayseraiWiktionary, English serai

The story

From Persian سرای (sarây, “courtyard; dwelling; palace”), with the sense as a seraglio via its use in Ottoman Turkish.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- ‘to cross over’

through, enter, trans, thorough, avatar, tram, tardy, tranquillity, torus, 19 more

through Persian سرای ‘courtyard’

sarai

Another origin of serai

  1. Malaymodernserai‘Cymbopogon citratus’
  2. Englishtodayserai

Today it means

noun A palace.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “serai”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Persian سرای. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *terh₂- / serai

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