viper

See also: Viper and VIPer

English

Etymology

From Middle French vipere, from Old French vipre, from Latin vīpera, contracted from vīvipara f (“viviparous”, adj.), from vivus (“alive”, adj.) +‎ parere (“to bear”, verb). Doublet of weever and wyvern.

Pronunciation

(General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪpɚ/
Audio (US): (file)
Rhymes: -aɪpə(ɹ)

Noun

viper (plural vipers)

A venomous snake in the family Viperidae.
Synonym: adder
(informal) Any venomous snake.
(figurative) A dangerous, treacherous, or malignant person.
- 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 62:
  And aggravate my folly who committed / To ſuch a viper his moſt ſacred truſt / Of ſecreſie, my ſafety, and my life.
- 1879, Francis Beaumont, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher: The Text Formed from a New Collation of the Early Editions, Volume 1, D. Appleton, page 350:
  Consider, for the love of Heaven, to what you run madly: will you take this viper into your bed?
- 1990 December 16, Gianni Comes, “Not Just Homophobia”, in Gay Community News, volume 18, number 22, page 4:
  Then there's the heterosexual, open-mined ^[sic] entourage who loves us dearly and are our best friends. They laugh at our humor and understand our sorrow. For they are rare and unique in prison. But the vipers always ruin things. They refer to our straight friends as "Closet-Cases," "Undercovers," and "Flip-Floppers."
(slang) A person who smokes marijuana.
- a. 1936, Stuff Smith (lyrics and music), “If You're a Viper”:
  Dreamed about a reefer five feet long / Mighty Mezz, but not too strong / You'll be high but not for long / If you're a viper
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:viper.

Derived terms

Translations

a poisonous snake in the family Viperidae

Afrikaans: adder (af)
Albanian: shlligë (sq), nepërkë (sq) f, rrëshajë (sq) f
Arabic: أفعى
Aramaic:
Hebrew: אכדנא f (’ekidnā’)

Syriac: ܐܟܕܢܐ f (’ekidnā’)
Armenian: իժ (hy) (iž)
Aromanian: vipirã f
Azerbaijani: gürzə
Belarusian: гадзю́ка f (hadzjúka)
Bulgarian: усойница (bg) f (usojnica), пепеля́нка (bg) f (pepeljánka)
Catalan: escurçó (ca)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 毒蛇どくへび (zh) (dúshé), 蝰蛇 (zh) (kuíshé)
Czech: zmije (cs) f
Dalmatian: carnoit m
Demotic: fꜣy (fay)
Dutch: adder (nl)
Esperanto: vipero (eo), vipuro (eo)
Estonian: rästik (et)
Finnish: kyy (fi), kyykäärme (fi)
Franco-Provençal: crotâl m, vipèra f
French: vipère (fr) f
Friulian: lipare f, vipare f
Galician: víbora (gl) f
Georgian: გველგესლა (gvelgesla), გველი (ka) (gveli)
German: Kreuzotter (de) f, Otter (de) f, Viper (de) f
Greek: έχιδνα (el) f (échidna), οχιά (el) f (ochiá)
Ancient: ἔχιδνα f (ékhidna)
Hebrew: צפע (he) m (tséfa)
Hindi: वाइपर m (vāipar)
Hungarian: vipera (hu)
Icelandic: höggormur (is) m
Ido: vipero (io)
Indonesian: beludak (id)
Ingrian: jaadumato, kirjava mato, gadjukka
Irish: nathair f
Istriot: beîpara f
Italian: vipera (it) f
Japanese: 毒蛇どくへび (ja) (どくへび, doku-hebi), クサリヘビ (kusari-hebi), 鎖くさり蛇へび (ja) (くさりへび, kusari-hebi)
Korean: 독사(毒蛇どくへび) (ko) (doksa)
Latin: vipera f
Latvian: odze
Lithuanian: angis f
Low German: Adder (nds) f; Krüüzadder f, Kriizadder f
Macedonian: отровница f (otrovnica)
Maltese: lifgħa
Middle English: vipera
Norwegian: huggorm n
Persian: گرزه‌مار (garze-mâr), گرزه (fa) (garze)
Piedmontese: vipra f
Polish: żmija (pl) f
Portuguese: víbora (pt) f
Romanian: năpârcă (ro) f, viperă (ro)
Romansch: vipra f
Russian: гадю́ка (ru) f (gadjúka)
Sanskrit: पृदाकु (sa) m (pṛdāku)
Slovene: gad m
Sorbian:
Lower Sorbian: zmija f
Spanish: víbora (es) f
Swedish: huggorm (sv) c
Tagalog: ulupong
Tocharian B: arṣāklo
Turkish: engerek (tr)
Ukrainian: гадю́ка f (hadjúka)
Welsh: gwiber f, neidr ddu f
West Frisian: njirre c

adder — see adder