Serb
UK /sɜːb/ · US /sɝb/ noun, adjective
Forms Serbs
- noun A person of Serb descent (not necessarily from Serbia). (Compare Serbian.)
- adjective Of or pertaining to the Serbs; Serbian.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Serbo-Croatian Срби /Srbi, from Proto-Slavic *sьrbъ (“ally, Serb, Sorb”), from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to protect, watch over”); akin to Latin servo (“to guard, to protect”), Old English searu (“weapons, armor”), Lithuanian sárgas (“watchman”), Ancient Greek ἥρως (hḗrōs, “hero”), Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬭𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (haraⁱti), 𐬵𐬀𐬎𐬭𐬎𐬎𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (haᵘruuaⁱti, “to guard”). Doublet of Sorb.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “Serb”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details