Serotine
//ˈsɛɹətaɪn// adj, noun
adj, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Any of the genus Eptesicus of several small bats.
- 2 common brown bat of Europe wordnet
Adjective
- 1 Developing at a later time or later in a season, especially than is customary with allied species; specifically (botany), of a plant: flowering late in a season.
Etymology
Etymology 1
Borrowed from French sérotine, from Latin sērōtina, a feminine form of sērōtinus (“late (in ripening, etc.); relating to the evening”) (referring to the bats being active late in the evening), from sērō (“at a late hour; too late”, adverb) (from sērus (“late, too late; slow, tardy”, adjective); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *seh₁- (“lasting; long”)) + -tinus (suffix forming adjectives from adverbs relating to time).
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Latin sērōtinus (“late (in ripening, etc.); relating to the evening”): see etymology 1.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.