sere
/sɪə/
"sere" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“sere” is an uncommon English word, ranked #79,046 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #79,046
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Without moisture; dry.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | sere |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /sɪə/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #79,046 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “sere” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for sere is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /sɪə/. Corpus data places it at rank #79,046 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Without moisture; dry.
- 2Of thoughts, etc.: barren, fruitless.
- 3Of fabrics: threadbare, worn out.
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
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"?
What does "sere" mean?
How do you pronounce "sere"?
What is the origin of the word "sere"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “sere”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-E-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /sɪə/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.