searce

English

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

searce

/sɑːs/ UK
/sɜːs/ UK
/sɑɹs/ US
/sɚs/ US

Rhymes with -ɑː(ɹ)s, -ɜːs

Where it comes from

From Middle English sarse, probably from Anglo-Norman cerche, *cerce, from Late Latin *circa.

Traditionally derived from Old French saas (Late Latin *saetāceus (pannus) (“(cloth) made of bristles”)), but this does not explain the -r- or the final -e of the Middle English form; intrusive -r- before /s/ is sometimes found in Middle English, but one would expect etymological r-less forms to appear alongside such forms.

noun searces · sarse

countable, obsolete A sieve; a strainer. Yet will our selfe overweening sift his divinitie through our searce [translating estamine]: whence are engendred all the vanities and errours wherewith the world is so full-fraught[…].

verb searces · searcing · searced · sarse

obsolete To sift (through a sieve); to bolt. My next Difficulty was to make a Sieve, or Searſe, to dreſs my meal, and to part it from the Bran and the Huſk, without which I did not ſee it poſſible I could have any Bread. […] I had nothing like the neceſſary Things to make it with—I mean fine thin Canvas, or Stuff, to ſearſe the Meal through.

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"searce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/searce. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

searce. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/searce

Chicago

"searce." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/searce.

BibTeX

@misc{searce_2026,
  title = {searce},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/searce},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}