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serpent - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Wiktionary

serpent

See also: Serpent and sèrpent

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English serpent, from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), present active participle of serpere (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-Italic *serpō, from Proto-Indo-European *serp-. In this sense, displaced native Old English nǣdre (“snake, serpent”), whence Modern English adder.

Compare Sanskrit सर्प (sarpa, “snake”), which is a descendant of the same Proto-Indo-European word as English serpent.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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serpent (plural serpents)

  1. (now literary) A snake, especially a large or dangerous one.
    • 1712, A. Hill, chapter 9, in The Book of Ecclesiastes Paraphrased. A Divine Poem.‎[1], Newcastle upon Tyne: J. White, page 38:
      He falls into it, who has digg'd a Pit.
      Who breaks a Hedge is with a Serpent bit.
    • 1879, Charles H. Eden, chapter III, in Ula, in Veldt and Laager: A Tale of the Zulus.‎[2], copyright edition, Hamburg: Karl Grädener, page 45:
      Coiled up behind the shrub, […] was a green imamba, the most dreaded of all South African serpents.
    • 1946 October, Archibald Rutledge, “Along Nature's Trail”, in Boys' Life‎[3], volume 36, number 10, Boy Scouts of America, Inc., →ISSN, page 40:
      Any serpent six feet long looks formidable; and over that length, one takes on the aspect of a chimera.
  2. (figurative) A subtle, treacherous, malicious person.
  3. (music) An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).
  4. A kind of firework with a serpentine motion.

Synonyms

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Terms derived from Germanic roots
Terms derived from Latin

Hyponyms

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Of the sense “a snake”
Of the sense “a firework”

Meronyms

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Of the sense “a snake”

Holonyms

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Of the sense “a snake”

Derived terms

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Terms derived from “serpent”
Attributive uses of the noun “serpent”
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Terms derived from Latin “serpēns”

Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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serpent (third-person singular simple present serpents, present participle serpenting, simple past and past participle serpented)

  1. (obsolete, intransitive) To wind or meander
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To encircle.

See also

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Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Latin serpentem, from serpō (“crawl, creep”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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serpent m or f (plural serpents)

  1. snake
    Synonym: serp

Dutch

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Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia nl

Etymology

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From Middle Dutch serpent, from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), from the verb serpō (“I creep, crawl”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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serpent n or f or m (plural serpenten, diminutive serpentje n)

  1. (formal, dated) snake
    Synonym: slang
  2. (formal) serpent, serpentine dragon, large snake
    Synonym: slang
  3. an unpleasant, spiteful or foulmouthed person, especially used of women
    Synonym: slang

Noun

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serpent f (plural serpenten, diminutive serpentje n)

  1. (music) serpent (wind instrument)

Descendants

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  • → West Frisian: serpint

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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Inherited from Middle French serpent, from Old French serpent, from Latin serpentem, accusative form of serpēns, from serpō (“crawl, creep”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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serpent m (plural serpents, feminine serpente)

  1. snake

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Verb

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serpent

  1. third-person plural future active indicative of serpō

Middle French

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Etymology

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From Old French serpent, from Latin serpentem, accusative singular form of serpēns.

Noun

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serpent m (plural serpenz)

  1. snake

Descendants

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Old French

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Etymology

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From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /serˈpẽnt/, (later) /serˈpãnt/

Noun

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serpent oblique singular, m (oblique plural serpenz or serpentz, nominative singular serpenz or serpentz, nominative plural serpent)

  1. snake

Descendants

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Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French serpent or English serpent.

Noun

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serpent n (plural serpente)

  1. (music) serpent

Declension

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Declension of serpent
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) serpent serpentul (niște) serpente serpentele
genitive/dative (unui) serpent serpentului (unor) serpente serpentelor
vocative serpentule serpentelor

Romansch

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

Noun

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serpent m (plural serpents)

  1. (Surmiran) snake

Synonyms

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  • (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) serp
  • (Sursilvan) siarp
  • (Sutsilvan) zearp
  • (Surmiran) zerp
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