Standard Lemma guide

serum

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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

Pronunciation

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.

  • UK: /ˈsɪəɹəm/
  • UK: /ˈsiːɹəm/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • US: /ˈsɪɹəm/
  • Canada: /ˈsiɹəm/
  • rhymes with (UK) -ɪəɹəm
  • rhymes with (US) -ɪɹəm
  • CMU ARPABET: S IH1 R AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Ellipsis of blood serum.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, countable, ellipsis, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Blood serum used as a blood product, in the practice of medicine: blood serum from the tissues of immunized animals (human or nonhuman), containing antibodies and used to transfer immunity to another individual (human or nonhuman).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Examples

  • Near-synonym: antiserum

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: antiserum

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A watery liquid from animal tissue, especially one that moistens the surface of serous membranes or that is exuded by such membranes when they become inflamed, such as in edema or a blister.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The watery portion of certain other animal fluids, such as milk; whey.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

A skincare product of varying consistencies with a high concentration of one or more active ingredients, for a targeted purpose, such as preventing acne, repairing sun damage, or moisturizing.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

an amber, watery fluid, rich in proteins, that separates out when blood coagulates

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blood serum

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: liquid body substance, bodily fluid, body fluid, humor, humour

Narrower terms: antiserum, whey, milk whey

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ser- Proto-Indo-European *sér-o-der. Proto-Italic *serom Latin serumder. English serum From Latin serum (“whey”). Cognates include French sérum, Spanish suero, Italian siere, siero, Portuguese soro. Doublet of suero.

Across languages

Translations

58 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مَصْل دَم (maṣl dam) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Arabic: مَصْل (maṣl) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Armenian: շիճուկ (šičuk) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Belarusian: сыро́ватка (syróvatka) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Bulgarian: се́рум (sérum) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Catalan: sèrum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Chinese Mandarin: 血清 (xuèqīng, xiěqīng) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Czech: sérum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Czech: syrovatčina — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Danish: serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Dutch: serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Esperanto: serumo — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Finnish: seerumi — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Finnish: veriseerumi — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Finnish: verihera — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • French: sérum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Galician: soro — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • German: Serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Greek: ορός (orós) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Ancient Greek: ὀρός (orós) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Hebrew: נסיוב (nasyúv) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Hungarian: szérum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Hungarian: vérsavó — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Indonesian: serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Italian: siero — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Japanese: 血清 (kessei) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Korean: 혈청 (hyeolcheong) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Macedonian: серум (serum) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Malay: serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Navajo: dił bitooʼ — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Persian: خونابه (xunâbe) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Persian: سرم (serom) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Polish: surowica — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Portuguese: soro — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Romanian: ser — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Russian: сы́воротка (sývorotka) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Serbo-Croatian: се́рум — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Serbo-Croatian: sérum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Slovak: sérum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Slovene: serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Spanish: suero — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Thai: ซีรัม — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Thai: น้ําเหลืองของเลือด — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Turkish: serum — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Ukrainian: сиро́ватка (syróvatka) — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Vietnamese: huyết thanh — yellowish fluid obtained from blood
  • Finnish: kudosneste — watery fluid from animal tissue
  • Indonesian: serum — watery fluid from animal tissue
  • Bulgarian: суроватка (surovatka) — watery portion of certain animal fluids
  • Finnish: hera — watery portion of certain animal fluids
  • Hungarian: savó — watery portion of certain animal fluids
  • Indonesian: serum — watery portion of certain animal fluids
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精華液 /精华液 (jīnghuáyè) — skincare product
  • Finnish: seerumi — skincare product
  • Indonesian: serum — skincare product
  • Polish: serum — skincare product
  • Portuguese: sérum — skincare product
  • Spanish: sérum — skincare product