English
sericulture
Sericulture may come from French sériculture.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English sericulture
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, The Indian Year Book, Bombay: Bennett: “Numerous experiments have been made with a view to…”.
Earlier history uncertain. See Wiktionary.
Lineage
- Frenchc. 1600–presentséricultureWiktionary, English sericultureuncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1828sericultureWiktionary, English sericulture. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1828, The Indian Year Book, Bombay: Bennett: “Numerous experiments have been made with a view to…”
A compound of sēricum ‘Chinese goods, especially silk’ + culture ‘crop’
Old Chinese 絲 ‘silk’
Ancient Greek σήρ ‘silkworm’
Ancient Greek σηρικός ‘silken’
Latin sēricus
Late Latin sēricum ‘Chinese goods, especially silk’
Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- ‘to move’
Latin colō ‘till, cultivate, worship’
Latin cultus ‘tilled, cultivated, having been cultivated’
Latin cultūra ‘cultivation’
French culture ‘crop’
The story
Possibly borrowed from French sériculture, a modification of French sériciculture (‘sericulture’) (or directly from sériciculture), from Late Latin sēricum (‘Chinese goods, especially silk’) + French culture (‘crop; culture’). Sēricum is derived from Latin sēricus (‘of or pertaining to the Seres or Chinese; (by extension) made of silk, silken’), from Sēres (‘northern Chinese people’), from Ancient Greek Σῆρες (Sêres, “the Chinese people; the land of the Chinese, China”), plural of Σήρ (Sḗr, “(rare, usually in plural) Chinese person; silkworm”), possibly from Old Chinese 絲 (*slɯ, “silk”).
Every English word from French sériculture
Today it means
noun The rearing of silkworms for the production of silk.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “sericulture”. 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 / French sériculture / sericulture