serenade [M17th] A serenade conjures up an image of a young man singing or playing to his beloved under her window or balcony at night. The word’s origins imply none of these things, requiring only that the performance be ‘serene’. It goes back through French and Italian to Latin serenus ‘calm, clear, fair’. The idea of serenading by night may derive from association with sera, the Italian word for ‘night’. Serenus is also the source of serene and serenity [both LME].