Meanings
plural cierges
- A wax candle used in religious rites.
1 more example
The fire was lighted in the drawing-room, and in the soft obscurity Toppie with her high golden head looked like a tall white lighted cierge; a Christmas cierge in a votive chapel of a great cathedral; for though so sweet, so almost gay, the background to Toppie's gaiety was something dedicated and remote.
1924, Anne Douglas Sedgwick, “Chapter 7”, in The Little French Girl
Origin
- Latincereus“waxy”
- Old Frenchcierge
- Middle Englishserge
- Englishcierge
From earlier cerge, from Middle English serge, cerge, from Old French cierge, cerge from Latin cereus (“waxy”), from cera (“wax”). The current pronunciation is learnedly taken from modern French cierge (with varying degrees of nativisation).
More words from Middle English, Old French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
cierge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cierge
“cierge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cierge. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cierge,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cierge.
Source: cierge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.