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prettygoodwordserotinal (si-ROT-n-l, ser-uh-TAIN-l) - adj., related to or occurring in late summer; (biol.) serotine, developing or flowering at a later time or later in a season compared to similar species.
For those wondering how I was going to get five seasonal words out of four seasons, here's your answer. Note that the technical sense is the only sense that is a synonym of serotine, and this very much a lesser-used sense -- not that the main sense is particularly well-known. Coined around 1898 from serotine (by adding an additional adjectival ending -al), which was taken in the 1590s from Latin sērōtinus, late (in ripening/in the day), from sērus, late, ultimately from PIE *seh₁-, long/lasting.
---L.
For those wondering how I was going to get five seasonal words out of four seasons, here's your answer. Note that the technical sense is the only sense that is a synonym of serotine, and this very much a lesser-used sense -- not that the main sense is particularly well-known. Coined around 1898 from serotine (by adding an additional adjectival ending -al), which was taken in the 1590s from Latin sērōtinus, late (in ripening/in the day), from sērus, late, ultimately from PIE *seh₁-, long/lasting.
---L.
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Date: 2025-03-13 12:53 am (UTC)And it looks as though “serotonin”, although it’s believed to play a significant role in Seasonal Affective Disorder, is etymologically unrelated, deriving from “serum”, “tonic”, and the chemical suffix “-in”.
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Date: 2025-03-13 12:48 pm (UTC)Oh, right, I meant to mention serotonin. Thanks.