English
serial
Serial comes from Latin seriēs ‘a series’, and goes back to serō ‘to bind’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserō1‘to bind’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEseriēs2‘a series’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEseriālis2
- Englishearliest quotation 1823serial2
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin series
- 2 Wiktionary, English serial
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1823, Royal Institution of Great Britain, The Quarterly Journal - Volume 14: “These singular ribs have a very different direction from…”.
Earlier history not traced here. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEserōWiktionary, Latin series‘to bind’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEseriēsWiktionary, English serial‘a series’
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEseriālisWiktionary, English serial
- Englishearliest quotation 1823serialWiktionary, English serial. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1823, Royal Institution of Great Britain, The Quarterly Journal - Volume 14: “These singular ribs have a very different direction from…”
Formed from series + -al
Proto-Indo-European *ser- ‘to bind’
Proto-Indo-European *séreti
Proto-Italic *serō ‘to join’
Latin serō
Latin seriēs ‘a row’
English series
The story
Formed as series + -al, on model of Latin seriālis, from seriēs + -ālis. First use appears c. 1823.
Linked words
through Latin serō ‘to bind’
season, desert, insert, exert, soiree, cerrado, sere, 9 more
through Latin seriēs ‘a series’
Today it means
adj Having to do with or arranged in a series.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “serial”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Latin series. 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 / Latin serō / serial