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Glite Dictionary
sericulture

sericulture

1 9.9
Raising silkworms to make raw silk
  • noun
  • /ˈsɛrɪˌkʌltʃər/
  • Specialized
: sericultura
  • The art of sericulture involves carefully raising silkworms and harvesting their cocoons for silk production.

Examples

  • In Japan, sericulture has a long history, with families passing down the techniques of silkworm cultivation through generations.

  • So the story goes, Khotan did not have the knowledge of sericulture or silk farming.

  • Many farmers in China have turned to sericulture to increase their income by producing silk.

Surface Forms

sericulture singular
sericultures plural

Morphology

sericulture = culture (semi-transparent) = seri + culture

The combining form 'seri-' signals silk and 'culture' signals cultivation, but 'seri-' is a technical combining form rather than the everyday word 'silk', so learners may only partially infer the meaning 'silk cultivation'.

Etymology

The word sericulture comes from seri- meaning 'silk' and -culture meaning 'to grow', like in agriculture. So sericulture means 'growing silk' — the raising of silkworms to make raw silk.