Etymology

seriema

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Today it means: Either of two species of bird in the family Cariamidae within the order Cariamiformes, endemic to South America. Full definition →

First used 17th c.Portuguese seriema ← Old Tupi seriema
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The story

  1. Old Tupi · derived fromseriema
  2. Portuguese · borrowed fromseriema
  3. English todayseriema

Borrowed from Portuguese seriema, from Old Tupi seriema. The spellings with ⟨ca⟩ and ⟨ça⟩ were borrowed quasi-directly through Historia Naturalis Brasiliae.

First known use, by meaning

  • from 17th c. Either of two species of bird in the family Cariamidae within the order Cariamiformes, endemic to South America.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.