The name comes from Latinsericus, meaning "silken" in reference to the location from which silk was first utilized, which in turn refers to the silky sheen of rocks with abundant sericite.
Sericite in thin section (fine, high birefringence flakes covering other larger minerals)
Granite in thin section under cross-polarized light in which feldspar crystals exhibit sericite alteration
Staurolite-garnet schist in thin section under cross-polarized light with sericite
References
^Nesse, William D. (2012). Introduction to mineralogy (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0199827381.