Etymograph

English

sere

Sere comes from Latin serō ‘to entwine, interlace, link together’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *ser-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-1‘to bind, tie together’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*séreti2reconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*serō2reconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserō1‘to entwine, interlace, link together’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserere1present active infinitive of serō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1980sere1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English sere
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Latin sero
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1980, Douglas C. Andersen, Herbivorous Mammals along a Montane Sere: Community Structur: “We examined one of several seres found in the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ser-Wiktionary, English sere‘to bind, tie together’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*séretiWiktionary, Latin seroreconstructed
  3. Proto-Italicc. 1500–700 BCE*serōWiktionary, Latin seroreconstructed
  4. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserōWiktionary, English sere‘to entwine, interlace, link together’
  5. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserereWiktionary, English serepresent active infinitive of serō
  6. Englishearliest quotation 1980sereWiktionary, English sere. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1980, Douglas C. Andersen, Herbivorous Mammals along a Montane Sere: Community Structur: “We examined one of several seres found in the…”

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to bind, tie together’

sort, service, stream, hero, conservative, serve, reservoir, conservatism, sermon, concierge, sorcery, assertive, heresy, sark, observant, sorcerer, servitude, heretic, strudel, conservator, servile, serf, 33 more

through Proto-Italic *serō

assertion, deserter, 2 more

through Latin serō ‘to entwine, interlace, link together’

season, series, desert, serial, insert, exert, soiree, cerrado, 9 more

Today it means

noun A natural succession community of organisms in an ecosystem, especially a series of communities succeeding one another from a time when habitat is unoccupied or disturbed to the time when a climax community is achieved.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “sere”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin sero. 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 *ser- / sere

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