sericeous

• sericious

From Latin sēricus (“silken”), sēricum (“Seric material; silk”), from Sēricus (“belonging to the Seres”): Sērēs, Ancient Greek Σῆρες (Sêres, “a people of Eastern Asia, the modern Chinese, celebrated for their silken fabrics”). Compare silk, serge.

sericeous (comparative more sericeous, superlative most sericeous)

1. Of or relating to silk; consisting of, or resembling silk; silky.

   sericeous color

2. (botany) Covered with very soft hairs pressed close to the surface.

   a sericeous leaf

   sericeous ovary

   sericeous pubescence

   sericeous stalk

   sericeous surface of leaves

3. (zoology) Having a silky lustre, usually due to fine, close hairs

   sericeous spot of hairs

   sericeous pile

• “sericeous”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.