serving

C2+ Topic:Food & Drink

US /ˈsɝvɪŋ/ UK /ˈsɜːvɪŋ/ See IPA manual

Meanings

1

noun
a portion of food or drink for one person

Each serving of the casserole was generously sized.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · a portion of food or drink... portion helping ration platefuldollop

Word family

Related forms serve server service

Etymology

Verbal noun of serve, from Old French servir, from Latin servire ('to serve, be a slave to'), from servus ('slave').

servire Latin servus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Food & Drink Word Formation & Derivatives

External links

# serving

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈsɝvɪŋ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈsɜːvɪŋ/

## Meanings
1. a portion of food or drink for one person

## Examples
- Each serving of the casserole was generously sized.

## Synonyms
- portion
- helping
- ration
- plateful
- dollop

## Related Forms
- serve
- server
- service

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: servire
- Root: servus

## Etymology
Verbal noun of serve, from Old French servir, from Latin servire ('to serve, be a slave to'), from servus ('slave').

## AI Etymology
Serving is a verbal noun of serve, from Old French servir, from Latin servire ('to serve, be a slave to'), from servus ('slave'). The historical chain includes Latin servire and Latin servus. The quoted older senses, "to serve, be a slave to" and "slave", supply the semantic anchors for serving. The formation is best read as borrowed: the word serving carries its older form-history into a compact English lexical shape. In present English it is used as a noun, "a portion of food or drink for one person". Related English forms include serve, server, and service. The result is a noun and adj whose etymology preserves both the older form and the later English specialization.

## Topics
- Food & Drink
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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