serpent

English

Etymology

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

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɜːpənt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɝpənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧pent

Noun

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.‎, 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.‎, 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, 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.
   • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     He is a very serpent in my way.

   • 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:

     'Dogs and serpents,' She began in a low voice that gradually gathered power as she went on, till the place rang with it. Eaters of human flesh, two things have ye done. First, ye have attacked these strangers, being white men, and would have slain their servant, and for that alone death is your reward.'

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

Hyponyms

Meronyms

Holonyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

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.
   • 1645 February 10 (Gregorian calendar), John Evelyn, “”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, , 2nd edition, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, ; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, , published 1819, →OCLC:

     fruit-trees, whose boles are serpented with excellent vines

See also

• herpetology
• lizard
• reptile
• snake

Anagrams

• penster, present, repents, respent

Catalan

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central)
• IPA^(key): (Balearic)
• IPA^(key): (Valencian)

• Audio (Valencian)

  (file)

Noun

serpent m or f (plural serpents)

1. snake

   Synonym: serp

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

serpent

Wikipedia ^nl

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛrˈpɛnt/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧pent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

Noun

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

serpent f (plural serpenten, diminutive serpentje n)

1. (music) serpent (wind instrument)

Descendants

• → West Frisian: serpint

Anagrams

• persten, strepen

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.pɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

serpent m (plural serpents, feminine serpente)

1. snake

Derived terms

Further reading

• “serpent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• présent

Latin

Verb

serpent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of serpō

Middle French

Etymology

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

Noun

serpent m (plural serpenz)

1. snake

Descendants

• French: serpent

Old French

Etymology

From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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

1. snake

Descendants

• Middle French: serpent
  • French: serpent
• Walloon: sierpint
• → Middle English: serpent
  • English: serpent
• → Dutch: serpent

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French serpent or English serpent.

Noun

serpent n (plural serpente)

1. (music) serpent

Declension

Romansch

Alternative forms

• serpaint (Vallader)

Etymology

From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

Noun

serpent m (plural serpents)

1. (Surmiran) snake

Synonyms

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