Seric

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈsɛɹɪk/

Definitions

1. Connected with silk or the process of producing silk from silkworms
2. Pertaining to anything associated with silk or the art of silk manufacturing
3. Involving silk or characteristics derived from silk or its production

Etymology: Sericulture, the rearing of silkworms, gave this word its roots. In ancient Greek, "sḗr" meant silkworm, and "sērikós" meant "of the silk" or "from the land of the silk." The Romans borrowed the adjective as "sēricus," and it reached English directly from Latin, so "seric" is a learned borrowing rather than a word that arrived through everyday speech. The Greek noun itself may trace back to a Chinese word for silk, which travelled westward along the trade routes that carried silk to the Mediterranean. If so, the word's ancestry runs from a Chinese term through Greek and Latin before reaching English scholars who needed a precise word for things made of silk. Its close relatives are "silk" and "serge." Both come from the same ancient source but reached English by different routes: "silk" through Germanic speech, and "serge," a twilled woollen or silk fabric, through French. Such pairs of words from one origin but different paths are called doublets.