Serenity

How to spell serenity

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce serenity

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does serenity mean?

1. nounThe state of being calm, peaceful, and untroubled.

Serenity in a sentence

• The quiet garden gave her a rare sense of serenity after a stressful week.

• Meditation each morning helped him find some serenity before work.

Where does serenity come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word descends from the Latin serenitas, an abstract noun built on the adjective serenus, which literally meant 'clear', 'bright', or 'unclouded', and was used above all of fair, calm weather and untroubled skies. From that meteorological picture of a still, cloudless day the sense broadened to describe a calm and peaceful state of mind. English took it up in the fifteenth century, partly through Old French serenite and partly straight from Latin, and the same serenus root also gives us the everyday adjective 'serene'. For centuries 'Serenity' was even used as a courtly title of honour, as in 'His Serene Highness', echoing that idea of unruffled calm. The single internal 'r' and the smooth run of vowels are the only real spelling hazard, since the middle syllable is the stressed one and the rest fades to a soft schwa.

How the word is built

• seren- (from Latin serenus: calm, clear)
• -ity (suffix forming an abstract noun)