This week’s theme
Words formed in error

This week’s words
trialogue
marquee
roister
serried

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(SER-eed)

MEANING:

adjective: Arranged close together, often in a line.

ETYMOLOGY:

Past participle of obsolete serry (to press close together), from French serré (pressed together), past participle of serrer (to press close), from Latin serrare (to lock), from sera (bolt, bar). Earliest documented use: 1667.

NOTES:

In French, past participles typically go in this pattern:
entrée from entrer (to enter)
fiancé from fiancer (to betroth)
attaché from attacher (to attach)
The French word serré (pressed together) was already a past participle of the verb serrer. English speakers, mistaking it for a base verb, reshaped it into serry, and then dutifully formed a new past participle: serried.

USAGE:

“For less prepared Jubilee-ers, serried ranks of portable toilets lined the Mall’s sidewalk.”
Rebecca Mead; Platinum Pudding; The New Yorker; Jun 13, 2022.

See more usage examples of serried in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: