# cereus
## English
### Etymology

From the genus name. Doublet of serge.

### Noun

cereus (plural cereuses)
* Any of the genus Cereus of plants of the cactus family, natives to the Americas, from California to Chile.

#### Derived terms

* night-blooming cereus

#### Related terms

* cerein
* ceroid

#### Translations
### References

* Cereus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Cereus on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Cereus on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

### Anagrams

* Creuse, Rescue, ceruse, cursee, recuse, rescue, secuer, secure

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈkeː.re.us/, [ˈkeːreʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈt͡ʃe.re.us/, [ˈt͡ʃɛːreus]

### Etymology 1

From cēra (“wax”).

#### Adjective

cēreus (feminine cērea, neuter cēreum); first/second-declension adjective
* of wax, waxen
* of the colour of wax
* of the properties of wax; soft, pliant
* (figuratively) easily moved, swayed or persuaded

##### Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

##### Derived terms

* cēreolus

##### Descendants

* Catalan: ceri
* Galician: céreo
* Italian: cereo
* Portuguese: céreo
* Spanish: céreo
* French: cierge

### Etymology 2

Substantive from cēreus fūnis (“waxen cord”).

#### Noun

cēreus m (genitive cēreī); second declension
* a wax taper or light, particularly those that were brought by clients to their patrons as presents at the time of the Saturnalia

##### Declension

Second-declension noun.

##### Descendants

* Dalmatian:
** cir
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: cero
* Padanian:
** Piedmontese: siri
* Northern Gallo-Romance:
** Franco-Provençal: ciéro
** French: cierge
*** →? Franco-Provençal: ciérjo
* Southern Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: ciri
** Occitan: ciri
* Ibero-Romance:
** Portuguese: círio
** Spanish: cirio
* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: chíriu

### See also

Colors in Latin · colōrēs (layout · text) :
| albus, candidus, subalbus, niveus, cēreus, marmoreus, eburneus, cānus, blancus (ML.) | glaucus, rāvus, pullus, cinereus, cinerāceus, plumbeus, grīseus (ML. or NL.) | niger, āter, piceus, furvus |
| ruber, rūbidus, rūfus, rubicundus, russus, rubrīcus, pūniceus, murrinus, mulleus; cocceus, coccīnus, badius | rutilus, armeniacus, aurantius, aurantiacus; fuscus, suffuscus, colōrius, cervīnus, spādīx, castaneus, aquilus, fulvus, brunneus (ML.) | flāvus, sufflāvus, flāvidus, fulvus, lūteus, gilvus, helvus, croceus, pallidus, blondinus (ML.) |
| galbus, galbinus, lūridus | viridis | prasinus |
| cȳaneus | caeruleus, azurīnus (ML.), caesius, blāvus (LL.) | glaucus; līvidus; venetus |
| violāceus, ianthinus, balaustīnus (NL.) | ostrīnus, amethystīnus | purpureus, ātropurpureus, roseus, rosāceus |

### References

* “cereus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “cereus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* cereus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* cereus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* “cereus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers