serge

S1E1R1G2E1
UK/sɜːd͡ʒ/US/sɝd͡ʒ/

noun

A type of worsted cloth.

OriginMiddle English sarge ← Old French sarge, serge ← Vulgar Latin *sarica →
Less commonScrabble 6
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

serge1

nounserge (countable and uncountable, plural serges)

plural serges

  1. countableuncountablebusinessA type of worsted cloth.

    What I noticed most strongly was his smell, of hair oil and serge and cigarette smoke, and something else, something intimate and sour and wholly, shockingly other.

    1993, John Banville, Ghosts
    1 more example

    Lucy, who had only seen her in either the large loose wrapping dress of serge, or in the quaint simplicity of the Puritanic garb, then so general in England, could not restrain an exclamation of admiration as she returned to their chamber.

    1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 110
  2. countablemetonymicallyuncountableA garment made of this fabric.
verbserge (third-person singular simple present serges, present participle serging, simple past and past participle serged)

present singular third person serges · participle present serging · participle past serged · past serged

  1. businessTo overlock.

serge2

nounserge (plural serges)

plural serges

  1. A large wax candle used in some church ceremonies.

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
overlock

Origin

serge · noun, verb

  1. Old Chinese絲“silk”
  2. Ancient Greekσηρικός“silken”
  3. Latinsērica“silken, silk things”
  4. Vulgar Latin*sarica
  5. Old Frenchsarge, serge
  6. Middle Englishsarge
  7. Englishserge

From Middle English sarge, from Old French sarge, serge, from Vulgar Latin *sarica, from Latin sērica (“silken, silk things”), from Ancient Greek σηρικός (sērikós, “silken”), from σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”) + -ικός (-ikós, “-ic”), possibly from Old Chinese 絲 (*sə, “silk”). Doublet of silk and seric.

More words from Middle English, Old French, Vulgar Latin

Full word history & related roots →

serge · noun

  1. Old Frenchci(e)rge, cerge & chierge
  2. Middle Englishcerge
  3. Englishserge

From Middle English cerge, from Old French ci(e)rge, cerge & chierge.

More words from Middle English, Old French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian шевиот
  • шевиот (ševiot)type of cloth
Chinese Mandarin 嗶嘰 /哔叽
  • 嗶嘰 /哔叽 (bìjī)type of cloth
Polish serża
  • serżatype of cloth
Portuguese sarja, sarja
  • sarjatype of cloth
  • sarjatype of cloth
Russian са́ржа
  • са́ржа (sárža)type of cloth

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with serge

mergesurgeurgeemergevergepurgeconvergescourgedirgedivergesplurgespurgesubmergeglurgeabstergeaspergegurgesperge
All rhymes →

Sounds the same

surgesurgesurge

Anagrams

Seger
Cite this entry
APA

serge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serge

MLA

“serge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serge. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “serge,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/serge.

Source: serge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.