serious

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-rós

Proto-Italic *sēros

Latin sērus

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Italic *-ios

Old Latin -ios

Latin -ius

?

Proto-Indo-European *swer-

Proto-Indo-European *-yós

Proto-Italic *swerjos?

Latin sērius

Proto-Indo-European *h₃ed-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *h₃édosder.?

Proto-Italic *-ōtsos or *-otsos

Latin -ōsus

Medieval Latin sēriōsus

Old French serieuxbor.

Middle English seryows

English serious

From Middle English seryows, from Old French serieux, from Medieval Latin sēriōsus, an extension of Latin sērius (“grave, earnest, serious”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy”). (If this root is correct, cognate with German schwer (“heavy, difficult, severe”), Old English swǣr (“heavy, grave, grievous”). More at swear, sweer. However, see sērius for an alternative derivation of the Latin.)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪə̯.ɹi.əs/, /ˈsɪː.ɹi.əs/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American, Canada, mirror–nearer merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɹ.i.əs/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (US, without the mirror–nearer merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɪɚ.i.əs/, /ˈsiɹ.i.əs/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈsiə.ɹi.əs/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈsi.ɹi.əs/
• (East Anglia, cheer–chair merger) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛː.ɹi.əs/
• Homophones: cereous; Sirius (mirror–nearer merger)
• Rhymes: -ɪəɹiəs

Adjective

serious (comparative more serious, superlative most serious)

1. Without humor or expression of happiness; grave in manner or disposition.

   Synonyms: earnest, solemn

   deadly serious

   It was a surprise to see the captain, who had always seemed so serious, laugh so heartily.

2. Important; weighty; not insignificant.

   Synonym: desperate

   This is a serious problem. We'll need our best experts.

3. Really intending what is said (or planned, etc); in earnest; not jocular or deceiving.

   After all these years, we're finally getting serious attention.

   He says he wants to buy the team, but is he serious?

4. (of a relationship) Committed.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:serious

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “important, weighty”): trifling, unimportant
• (antonym(s) of “intending what is said”): jesting

Derived terms

• ha ha only serious
• hyperserious
• jocoserious
• nonserious
• overserious
• self-serious
• semiserious
• seriositude
• serious as a heart attack
• seriously
• serious-minded
• serious-mindedly
• serious-mindedness
• seriousness
• srs (abbreviation)
• superserious
• take serious
• ultraserious
• unserious
• why so serious

Translations

without humor or expression of happiness

• Afrikaans: ernstig (af)
• Arabic: جِدِّيّ (jiddiyy)
• Armenian: լուրջ (hy) (lurǰ)
• Azerbaijani: ciddi (az)
• Bashkir: етди (yetdi)
• Belarusian: сур'ё́зны (surʺjózny)
• Bulgarian: сериозен (bg) (seriozen)
• Catalan: seriós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 嚴肅 / 严肃 (zh) (yánsù)

• Czech: vážný (cs), seriózní (cs)
• Dutch: serieus (nl), ernstig (nl)
• Esperanto: serioza
• Estonian: tõsine
• Finnish: vakava (fi), vakavamielinen, totinen (fi)
• French: sérieux (fr)
• Galician: serio (gl), serio (gl)
• Georgian: სერიოზული (seriozuli)
• German: ernst (de), seriös (de)
• Greek: σοβαρός (el) (sovarós)
• Hindi: गंभीर (hi) (gambhīr)
• Hungarian: komoly (hu)
• Indonesian: serius (id)
• Italian: serio (it)
• Japanese: 真面目 (ja) (まじめ, majime), 真剣 (ja) (しんけん, shinken), 本気 (ja) (ほんき, honki)
• Kazakh: байсалды (baisaldy), байыпты (baiypty)
• Korean: 엄숙(嚴肅)하다 (ko) (eomsukhada), 진지(眞摯)하다 (ko) (jinjihada)
• Ladino: seriozo m
• Latin: sērius
• Latvian: nopietns
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Louisiana Creole: sériyé
• Norman: séthieux
• Occitan: seriós (oc)
• Persian: جدی (fa) (jeddi)
• Plautdietsch: iernst, ieeboa
• Polish: poważny (pl)
• Portuguese: sério (pt)
• Romanian: serios (ro)
• Russian: серьёзный (ru) (serʹjóznyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: ȍzbīljan (sh), hládan (sh)
• Sicilian: seriu (scn), tristu
• Spanish: serio (es)
• Swedish: allvarsam (sv)
• Thai: เคร่งขรึม (th) (krêng-krʉ̌m), เคร่งเครียด (th) (krêng-krîiat), ซีเรียส (th) (sii-rîiat)
• Turkish: ciddi (tr), vezmin, salmaklı (tr)

  Ottoman Turkish: دولك (dölek), آغر (ağır)

• Ukrainian: серйо́зний (serjóznyj)
• Welsh: difrifol (cy)

important; weighty; not trifling; leaving no room for play

• Afrikaans: ernstig (af)
• Arabic: جَدِّيّ (jaddiyy), جَادّ (jādd)
• Armenian: լուրջ (hy) (lurǰ)
• Bashkir: етди (yetdi)
• Belarusian: сур'ё́зны (surʺjózny)
• Bulgarian: важен (bg) (važen), сериозен (bg) (seriozen)
• Catalan: seriós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 認真 / 认真 (zh) (rènzhēn), 嚴重 / 严重 (zh) (yánzhòng), 沉重 (zh) (chénzhòng)

• Czech: vážný (cs), seriózní (cs)
• Danish: alvorlig (da)
• Dutch: serieus (nl)
• Esperanto: serioza, grava (eo)
• Estonian: tõsine
• Faroese: álvarsamur
• Finnish: vakava (fi)
• French: sérieux (fr)
• Galician: serio (gl)
• Georgian: მნიშვნელოვანი (mnišvnelovani), საყურადღებო (saq̇uradɣebo), ღრმააზროვანი (ɣrmaazrovani), სერიოზული (seriozuli)
• German: ernst (de), ernsthaft (de), schwerwiegend (de), ernst zu nehmend (de)

  Alemannic German: èèrnscht

• Greek: σοβαρός (el) (sovarós)

  Ancient Greek: σπουδαῖος (spoudaîos)

• Guarani:

  Paraguayan Guarani: ^{(please verify)} pohýi

• Hebrew: רציני (he) (r'tsiní)
• Hungarian: komoly (hu), súlyos (hu), fontos (hu), jelentős (hu), nagy horderejű
• Icelandic: alvarlegur (is)
• Italian: serio (it), grave (it), critico (it)
• Japanese: 真面目 (ja) (まじめ, majime), 真剣 (ja) (しんけん, shinken), 深刻 (ja) (しんこく, shinkoku)
• Khmer: ដុនដាប (don daap)
• Korean: 심각한 (simgakhan)
• Ladino: seriozo m
• Latin: gravis (la), sevērus, sonticus
• Latvian: svarīgs
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Louisiana Creole: sériyé
• Malay: serius (ms)
• Māori: taumaha, taimaha, tūpoupou (of illness), motuhēhē
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norman: séthieux
• Norwegian: alvorlig (no), seriøs
• Occitan: seriós (oc) m
• Persian: جدی (fa) (jeddi)
• Plautdietsch: schlemm, iernst
• Polish: poważny (pl)
• Portuguese: sério (pt)
• Russian: серьёзный (ru) (serʹjóznyj)
• Samoan: faigatā
• Sanskrit: गुरु (sa) (guru)
• Serbo-Croatian: ȍzbīljan (sh), vážan (sh), znȁčājan (sh)
• Sicilian: mpurtanti, mprisiusu, seriu (scn)
• Spanish: serio (es)
• Swedish: allvarlig (sv), seriös (sv)
• Tagalog: malma
• Tetum: seriu
• Thai: จริงจัง (th) (jing-jang), ซีเรียส (th) (sii-rîiat)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tongan: mahuʻinga
• Turkish: ciddi (tr), salmaklı (tr)
• Ukrainian: серйо́зний (serjóznyj)
• Vietnamese: nghiêm trọng (vi)
• Welsh: difrifol (cy)

really intending what is said; being in earnest

• Afrikaans: ernstig (af)
• Arabic: جَدِّيّ (jaddiyy), جَادّ (jādd)
• Armenian: լուրջ (hy) (lurǰ)
• Bashkir: етди (yetdi)
• Belarusian: сур'ё́зны (surʺjózny)
• Bulgarian: сериозен (bg) (seriozen)
• Catalan: seriós (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 認真 / 认真 (zh) (rènzhēn), 嚴重 / 严重 (zh) (yánzhòng)

• Czech: vážný (cs), seriózní (cs)
• Dutch: ernstig (nl), serieus (nl)
• Finnish: vakava (fi)
• French: sérieux (fr)
• Galician: serio (gl)
• German: ernsthaft (de)
• Greek: σοβαρός (el) (sovarós)

  Ancient Greek: σπουδαῖος (spoudaîos)

• Hebrew: רציני (he) (r'tsiní)
• Hungarian: komoly (hu), valós (hu), valódi (hu), őszinte (hu)
• Irish: dáiríre
• Italian: serio (it)
• Japanese: 真面目 (ja) (まじめ, majime)
• Korean: 심각한 (simgakhan)
• Ladino: seriozo m
• Latin: sērius
• Latvian: nopietns
• Louisiana Creole: sériyé
• Norman: séthieux
• Occitan: seriós (oc) m
• Portuguese: sério (pt)
• Russian: серьёзный (ru) (serʹjóznyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: ȍzbīljan (sh)
• Sicilian: anestu, cuscinziusu, judizziusu, seriu (scn), sinceru
• Spanish: serio (es)
• Swedish: seriös (sv)
• Thai: จริงจัง (th) (jing-jang), ซีเรียส (th) (sii-rîiat)
• Ukrainian: серйо́зний (serjóznyj)
• Welsh: o ddifri'

Adverb

serious (not comparable)

1. (colloquial or dialect) seriously, in a serious manner (most often heard in take or mean serious)
   • 1957, Ray Lawler, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Sydney: Fontana Books, published 1974, page 68:

     The only time I walk out on singin' is when there's muckin' about and youse don't take it serious.

Further reading

• “serious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin Eli Smith, editors (1895–1910), “serious”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.