>Just wondering...just don't like using terms without having a clue as to their root meeting.

Serialize means to put it in sequential sequence, like serial data on a line. It goes piece after piece after piece (bit after bit after bit).

In JSON and other formats, they are like that. A series of encapsulated items which define their full parallel construct, provided in one piece after another after another.

serialize() and deserialize() are common function names for these abilities, to take your parallel object / structure / table data, and put it in a contiguous sequence, and then to be able to reconstitute it back to your parallel object later from the single contiguous serial stream.