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se·rac also sé·rac

(sə-răk, sā-)

A large pointed mass of ice in a glacier isolated by intersecting crevasses.

[French sérac, strong cheese made from whey, serac (from the resemblance of glaciers with many seracs to unpressed cheese curds ), alteration of French dialectal (Savoy and Switzerland) seraz, sérē, from Vulgar Latin *serāceum, whey cheese, from Latin serum, whey.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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