Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
noun
A nonessential amino acid, CH2OH.CH(NH2)COOH, found in most animal proteins, notably silk.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
Topics: biochemistry, biology, chemistry, microbiology, natural-sciences, physical-sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
a sweetish crystalline amino acid involved in the synthesis by the body of cysteine
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: amino acid, aminoalkanoic acid
History
Etymology tree Old Chinese 絲 (*sə)der.? Ancient Greek σήρ (sḗr) Proto-Indo-European *-kos Proto-Hellenic *-kos Ancient Greek -κός (-kós) Ancient Greek -ῐκός (-ĭkós) Ancient Greek σηρῐκός (sērĭkós)bor. Latin sēricusder. English serine From Latin sericus (“silken”). The compound was first obtained from silk protein, a particularly rich source, in 1865. See also serge.
Across languages
18 source translations are retained for this English entry.
