sericeous

sericeous

English

Alternative forms

• sericious

Etymology

Latin sēricus (“silken”), sēricum (“Seric material; silk”), from Sēricus (“belonging to the Seres”): Sērēs, Ancient Greek Σῆρες (Sêres, “a people of Eastern Asia, the modern Chinese, celebrated for their silken fabrics”). Compare silk, serge.

Adjective

sericeous (comparative more sericeous, superlative most sericeous)

1. Of or relating to silk; consisting of silk; silky.
2. (botany) Covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface.

   a sericeous leaf

3. (zoology) Having a silky lustre, usually due to fine, close hairs.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for sericeous in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)