different between serene vs serendipity

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s???i?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /s???in/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin ser?nus (“clear, cloudless, untroubled”).

Adjective

serene (comparative more serene or serener, superlative most serene or serenest)

1. Peaceful, calm, unruffled.
2. Without worry or anxiety; unaffected by disturbance.
3. (archaic) fair and unclouded (as of the sky); clear; unobscured.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Full many a gem of purest ray serene / The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.
4. Used as part of certain titles, originally to indicate sovereignty or independence.

Related terms

• all serene
• serenity

Translations

Verb

serene (third-person singular simple present serenes, present participle serening, simple past and past participle serened)

1. (transitive) To make serene.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. (poetic) Serenity; clearness; calmness.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer

     the serene of heaven

   • 1742, Edward Young, Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality

     To their master is denied / To share their sweet serene.

2. Evening air; night chill.

   • Some serene blast me.

Etymology 2

Old French serein (“evening”), Vulgar Latin *ser?num (from substantive use of s?rum, neuter of s?rus (“late”)) + -?nus suffix.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. A fine rain from a cloudless sky after sunset.

Synonyms

• serein

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. serein n. 1.

Anagrams

• reseen, resene

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

serene

1. Inflected form of sereen

Esperanto

Etymology

serena +? -e

Adverb

serene

1. calmly, serenely

Italian

Adjective

serene

1. feminine plural of sereno

Latin

Etymology 1

From ser?nus +? -?.

Adverb

ser?n? (comparative ser?nius, superlative ser?nissim?)

1. clearly, brightly

Etymology 2

Adjective

ser?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of ser?nus

References

• serene in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Verb

serene

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of serenar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of serenar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of serenar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of serenar

Spanish

Verb

serene

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of serenar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of serenar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of serenar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of serenar.

English

Etymology

From Serendip (“variant of Serendib: Ceylon, Sri Lanka”) +? -ity. Coined by English writer and politician Horace Walpole in 1754 based on the Persian story of The Three Princes of Serendip, who (Walpole wrote to a friend) were “always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?s?.??n.?d?.p?.ti/, /?s?.??n.?d?.p?.ti/

Noun

serendipity (countable and uncountable, plural serendipities)

1. A combination of events which have come together by chance to make a surprisingly good or wonderful outcome.

   Antonyms: Murphy's law, perfect storm

   • 1754, Horace Walpole, The Letters of Horace Walpole, vol. 2, Letter 90, To Sir Horace Mann, Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1754. The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2

     The most random serendipity brought the two of us together, and now, we are happily married! If I was just 15 seconds slower, I'd have never met her!

     This discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call Serendipity, a very expressive word, which, as I have nothing better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you will understand it better by the derivation than by the definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called "The Three Princes of Serendip;" as their Highnesses travelled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left side, where it was worse than on the right – now do you understand Serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of this accidental Sagacity, (for you must observe that no discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this description,) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who, happening to dine at Lord Chancellor Clarendon's, found out the marriage of the Duke of York and Mrs. Hyde, by the respect with which her mother treated her at table.
2. An unsought, unintended, and/or unexpected, but fortunate, discovery and/or learning experience that happens by accident.

   Synonyms: chance, luck; see also Thesaurus:luck

   • 2007, Erin McKean, speech at TED

     Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for because finding what you are looking for is so damn difficult.

Usage notes

Serendipity is sometimes used loosely as a synonym for luck; more careful usage, particularly in science, emphasizes specifically "finding something when looking for something else, thanks to an observant mind".

The term was virtually unknown until the 1870s, and gained currency in the early 20th century. It became popularized at mid-century, and is now widely used.

Derived terms

• serendipitous
• serendipitously

Translations

References

• Goodman, Leo A. Notes on the Etymology of Serendipity and Some Related Philological Observations, Modern Language Notes, The Johns Hopkins University Press, Vol. 76, No. 5 (May, 1961), pp. 454–457. (JSTOR)
• Merton, Robert K.; Barber, Elinor G. The Travels and Adventures of Serendipity: A Study in Historical Semantics and the Sociology of Science, Princeton University Press, December 2003, ?ISBN
• Remer, Theodore G., ed. Serendipity and the Three Princes, from the Peregrinaggio of 1557, University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. LCC 65-10112

Further reading

• serendipity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia