What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Sere vs Serf - What's the difference?

sere | serf |

As nouns the difference between sere and serf

is that sere is an intermediate stage in an ecosystem prior to advancing to the point of being a climax community while serf is a partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, slavishly attached to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights.

As an adjective sere

is without moisture.

sere

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • Without moisture.
  • * 1798 , (Samuel Taylor Coleridge), (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner) , part 5:
  • The roaring wind! it roar'd far off,
    It did not come anear;
    But with its sound it shook the sails
    That were so thin and sere .
  • * 1868 , (Henry Lonsdale), The Worthies of Cumberland , volume concerning Sir J. R. G. Graham, chapter 1, page 1:
  • …whilst the 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.
  • * 1984 , (Vernor Vinge), (The Peace War) , chapter 37:
  • The grass was sere and golden, the dirt beneath white and gravelly.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An intermediate stage in an ecosystem prior to advancing to the point of being a climax community.
  • Synonyms
    * seral community

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) serre

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) claw; talon
  • (Chapman)
    (Webster 1913)

    See also

    * sear

    Anagrams

    * ----

    serf

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A partially free peasant of a low hereditary class, slavishly attached to the land owned by a feudal lord and required to perform labour, enjoying minimal legal or customary rights.
  • A similar agricultural labourer in 18th and 19th century Europe.
  • (strategy games) A worker unit.
  • Synonyms

    * (strategy games) peasant, peon, villager

    Derived terms

    * serfage * serfdom * serfhood * serfish * serfism

    See also

    * slave

    Anagrams

    * ----