sere

/sɪə/

//sɪə// adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"sere" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“sere” is uncommon English (frequency #79,046 among 6,566 “S” headwords), classed as an adjective. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#79,046
frequency rank, English
6,566
“S” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Without moisture; dry.

Corpus desk

Index EN-sere · sere · English

sere · rank #79,046 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #79,046
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,566
  • PHOTO-FINISH secondment

Nearest frequency peer: secondment (-2 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “sere”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “sere” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for sere
PropertyValue
Headwordsere
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
IPA/sɪə/
Letters4
Frequency rank#79,046
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “sere” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).serelands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “secondment” (#79,044), “sexo” (#79,050), “Sheff” (#79,051). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

sere is uncommon English at frequency #79,046 among 6,566 “S” headwords, classed as anadjective, transcribed /sɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 3 senses are on record.

No generated misspelling entries exist for sere in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ser, sere, seare, seer, seere, seir, seyr (“dry, withered; emaciated, shrivelled; brittle; bare; dead, lifeless; barren, useless”), from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, withered; barren; sere”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Pro… The correct English form is sere, spelled S-E-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Without moisture; dry.
  2. 2
    Of thoughts, etc.: barren, fruitless.
  3. 3
    Of fabrics: threadbare, worn out.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how sere appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The autumn winds rushing / Waft the leaves that are searest, / But our flower was in flushing, / When blighting was nearest.
  2. [T]he recitation of Border Minstrelsy, or a well-sung ballad, served to revive the sere and yellow leaf of age by their refreshing memories of the pleasurable past.

Etymology

From Middle English ser, sere, seare, seer, seere, seir, seyr (“dry, withered; emaciated, shrivelled; brittle; bare; dead, lifeless; barren, useless”), from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, withered; barren; sere”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī), from Proto-Germanic *sauzaz (“dry, parched”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂sews-, *sh₂ews- (“to be dry”). Cognate with Dutch zoor (“dry and coarse”), Greek αὖος (av́os, “dry”), Lithuanian sausas (“dry”), Middle Low German sôr (Low German soor (“arid, dry”)), Old Church Slavonic соухъ (suχŭ, “dry”). Doublet of sear and sare.

This word in other languages

seco(Español)trocken(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "sere"?
"sere" is spelled S-E-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is /sɪə/.
What does "sere" mean?
As an adjective, "sere" means: Without moisture; dry.
How do you pronounce "sere"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "sere" is /sɪə/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "sere"?
From Middle English ser, sere, seare, seer, seere, seir, seyr (“dry, withered; emaciated, shrivelled; brittle; bare; dead, lifeless; barren, useless”), from Old English sēar, sīere (“dry, withered; barren; sere”), from Proto-West Germanic *sauʀ(ī)... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "sere", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

sexo#79,050tapu#79,115Taye#79,117TEFL#79,118

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list