Word origins

• semiurgyThe production of new meanings by the creation of new signs; the expansion of the semiosphere.
• seneschaltyThe office of seneschal.
• SengouagnetA village in Haute-Garonne department, France.
• Senhaja de SrairA Berber language spoken by the Senhaja Berbers of northern Morocco.
• sennitbraided cord or fabric of such small stuff as plaited rope yarns
• SenonianThe final part of the Cretaceous epoch, comprising the Coniacian, Santonian, Campanian and possibly the Maastrichtian ages
• senteurscent
• sentiment du ferThe ability to feel along the length of a fencing sword through holding only the weapon's grip, a quality of an experienced fencer.
• SeptembristAn participant in the September Massacres.
• septembrizeTo motivate the common people to overthrow a ruling class by force, and to execute its leaders.
• septennateA period of seven years.
• Sept-ÎlesA city in the Côte-Nord region of eastern Quebec, Canada.
• septillionA trillion trillion: 1 followed by 24 zeros, 10²⁴.
• septimeThe seventh defensive position, with the sword hand held at waist height, and the tip of the sword at knee level.
• septlevaIn the game of faro, the situation where a player gains seven times the number he or she laid down.
• seranditeAn often reddish mineral of the wollastonite group. It is the manganese analogue of pectolite.
• SercquiaisA language spoken on Sark, one of the Channel Islands.
• sergedusoySilk serge.
• serimeterA device used for testing the strength of thread or yarn, especially of silk.
• serotineAny of the genus Eptesicus of several small bats.
• serpetteA pruning knife with a curved blade.
• serpoletwild thyme
• serrefineSmall forceps used for clamping an artery.
• serryTo crowd, press together, or close (rank)
• service à la françaiseserving the dishes of a meal all together in one course instead of in several courses
• service à la russeserving the dishes of a meal in courses, one after another
• sesbanA leguminous shrub (Sesbania aculeata or others of the genus Sesbania), whose fiber can be used for making ropes.
• SèteA commune and town in Hérault department, Occitania, France.
• se-tenantA set of postage stamps with differing values, colours, etc, but printed on the same sheet.
• set one's cap atTo choose a man as a potential husband (for a girl).
• SèvresA town in France on the outskirts of Paris.
• SeychelloisFrom, or pertaining to, Seychelles.
• SeyssesA town and commune of Haute-Garonne department, Occitania, France.
• ShadoanA surname from French.
• shagreenAn untanned leather, often dyed green; originally made from horse skin, today mostly made from the skin of a shark or ray.
• shallopA shallow-draft riverboat.
• shamboA style of music made by the Ovambo people of Namibia, influenced by reggae.
• ShawiSynonym of Chayahuita (“Amazonian language of Peru”).
• ShinaultA surname from French.
• ShoemateA surname from French.
• short scaleA system of numeric names in which every new term with -illion greater than million is 1,000 times the previous term. (i.e., a billion is a thousand million.)
• S.I.Synonym of SI (International System of Units)
• sicilienneA dance, the siciliana.
• sicleA shekel.
• SieyèsA surname from French, usually applying to Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès.
• siffleA sibilant rale.
• siffletA theatrical whistle.
• siliqueA long dry fruit (seed capsule), length more than twice the width, typical to cruciferous plants and consisting of two fused carpels that separate when ripe.
• sillageThe trail of scent left behind by one who wears perfume.
• sillionThe thick, voluminous, and shiny soil turned over by a plow.
• sillometerA 19th-century device for measuring the speed of a ship without using a log-line.
• sillonA work raised in the middle of a wide ditch, to defend it.
• silver whiteSynonym of white lead, particularly (historical) in the form used in 19th-century Parisian paints.
• simagreA grimace.
• simiesquesimian; apelike
• SimilienA surname from French.
• similorAn alloy of copper and zinc, resembling brass, but of a golden color.
• SimoneauxA surname from French.
• simplesssimplicity or silliness
• SinaicSynonym of Sinaitic, of or related to Mount Sinai, Egypt.
• singerieA satirical genre of visual arts depicting monkeys imitating human behaviour, often fashionably dressed.
• singulativeOf or pertaining to a grammatical form or construction that expresses the individuation of a single referent from a mass noun.
• sinologueA student or expert of Chinese studies.
• sinopitesinopia (clay)
• Sino-TibetanOf or relating to both China and Tibet.
• sirocSynonym of sirocco.
• siropA concentrated fruit drink; a cordial.
• sirventeA typically satirical song sung by the troubadours of Provence.
• siscowetA freshwater fish from Lake Superior in the Great Lakes, a variety of the lake trout.
• sister republicA European republic established by the forces of the First French Republic (or with French assistance) during the French Revolutionary Wars of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
• SisyphismInfinite labor that produces nothing.
• sixaineSynonym of sextain.
• sixteThe sixth defensive position, with the sword hand held at chest height, and the tip of the sword at eye level.
• sixty-elevenVery many; too many to count; quite a lot.
• sixty-nineThe cardinal number immediately following sixty-eight and preceding seventy.
• skiverA slacker.
• Slave LakeFormer name of Great Slave Lake: a lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
• slaveyA male servant.
• slice of lifeA work in a genre (of theater, cinema, literature, manga, etc.) that presents day-to-day happenings with no clear central plot and takes place in a world that mirrors our own.
• small finalThe secondary final to determine rankings of competitors from the semifinals that did not make the big final.
• small textA small size of type, in French and Italian printing, usually conflated with brevier but technically treated as 7½ Didot points.
• snare-pictureA kind of artwork, introduced by Daniel Spoerri, in which objects found in chance positions (such as cutlery and crockery after a meal) are permanently fixed in those positions.
• soccaA French dish popular in Nice; a kind of chickpea pancake seasoned and eaten hot.
• sodalityA fraternity, a society or association.
• soi-disantOf a person: self-styled, self-proclaimed, with implications of pretence or dishonesty.
• soignéFashionable and elegant, well-groomed.
• soigneurA non-riding member of a racing team whose role is to provide support (such as massages, supplies, and transportation) for the cyclists.
• Soisy-sous-MontmorencyA commune in Val-d'Oise department, Île-de-France, France.
• soixante-huitardSomeone who took part in, or otherwise supported, the civil unrest in France in May 1968, characterised by student protests and widespread strikes.
• soixante-neufSixty-nine (a sex position).
• SolenneA female given name from French.
• solfègeA method of sight singing that uses the syllables do (originally ut), re, mi, fa, sol (or so), la, and si (or ti) to represent the seven principal pitches of the scale, most commonly the major scale. The fixed-do system uses do for C, and the moveable-do system uses do for whatever key the melody uses (thus B is do if the piece is in the key of B). The relative natural minor of a scale may be represented by beginning at la.
• solifloreA fragrance dominated by the scent of a particular flower, such as rose, carnation, or iris.
• soliveA joist or beam of secondary importance.
• solleretA flexible armor shoe (usually steel) made of multiple hinged plates, worn with mediaeval armour.
• solmisationMnemonic association of syllables with musical scale degrees.
• SolutreanOf or pertaining to the Solutrean.
• sombrousGloomy; sombre.
• somnambuleA somnambulist.
• somnambulismsleepwalking