adder

See also: Adder

English

WOTD – 11 January 2016

The head of the common European adder (Vipera berus)

The sea stickleback or adder-fish ()

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈædɚ/

• Audio (AU):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ædə(ɹ)

Etymology 1

(deprecated template usage) From Middle English addere, rebracketing of “a naddere” as “an addere”, from Old English nǣdre, nǣddre (“snake, serpent, viper, adder”), from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ (“snake, viper”) (compare West Frisian njirre, Dutch adder, German Natter, Otter), from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂ (compare Welsh neidr, Latin natrīx (“watersnake”)), from *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”) (compare Dutch naaien).

Alternative forms

• edder (dialectal)

Noun

adder (plural adders)

1. (obsolete) Any snake.
   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II Scene 2

     CALIBAN:

     [...]

     His spirits hear me,

     And yet I needs must curse. But they'll nor pinch

     Fright me with urchin-shows, pitch me i'th' mire,

     Nor lead me like a firebrand in the dark

     Out of my way, unless he bid 'em; but

     For every trifle are they set upon me,

     Sometimes like apes that mow and chatter at me,

     And after bite me; then like hedgehogs, which

     Lie tumbling in my barefoot way, and mount

     Their pricks at my footfall; sometimes am I

     All wound with adders, who with their cloven tongues

     Do hiss me into madness—

     [...]

2. A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling the viper; a viper.
   1. (chiefly British) A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera
      1. The common European adder (Vipera berus).
   2. The puff adders, of Africa (genus ).
   3. (US, Canada) Any of several small nonvenomous snakes resembling adders
      1. Lampropeltis triangulum (milk snake).
      2. spp. (hog-nosed snakes), a genus of harmless colubrid snakes found in North America
   4. Certain venomous snakes resembling other adders
      1. Acanthophis spp. (death adders), elapid snakes found in Southeast Asia and Australia
      2. , the northern copperhead, a venomous viper found in the eastern United States
   5. A sea stickleback or adder fish ().

Derived terms

• adder fish
• puff adder ()

Translations

snake

• Armenian: օձ (hy) (ōj)
• Bulgarian: змия (bg) (zmija)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毒蛇 (zh) (dúshé), 蝰蛇 (zh) (kuíshé)

• Dutch: adder (nl) f
• Finnish: käärme (fi)
• Galician: cóbrega (gl) f, pezoira f, liscáncere m, cobra (gl) f, quiobra f, becha (gl) f
• Georgian: გველი (gveli)
• German: Natter (de) f
• Indonesian: senawan (id)
• Irish: nathair f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 毒蛇 (ja) (どくへび, doku-hebi)
• Korean: 독사 (ko) (doksa) (毒蛇 (ko))
• Low German: Adder (nds) f
• Macedonian: шарка f (šarka)
• Portuguese: cobra (pt) f, serpente (pt) f
• Russian: змея́ (ru) f (zmejá), гадю́ка (ru) f (gadjúka)
• Sanskrit: पृदाकु (sa) m (pṛdāku)
• Scottish Gaelic: nathair f
• Spanish: serpiente (es) f, culebra (es) f
• Ukrainian: змія́ (uk) f (zmijá)
• Zazaki: zıngırok

viper

• Armenian: իժ (hy) (iž)
• Bulgarian: пепелянка (bg) (pepeljanka)
• Catalan: escurçó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蝰蛇 (zh) (kuíshé)

• Czech: zmije (cs) f
• Danish: hugorm c
• Dutch: adder (nl) m
• Estonian: rästik (et)
• Finnish: kyy (fi)
• French: vipère (fr) f
• Galician: naia f, sacaveira f, áspide m, bichorro m
• Georgian: გველგესლა (gvelgesla)
• German: Otter (de) f, Viper (de) f, Kreuzotter (de) f
• Greek: οχιά (el) f (ochiá), έχιδνα (el) f (échidna)

  Ancient: ἔχιδνα f (ékhidna)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: vipero (io)
• Interlingue:
• Irish: nathair nimhe f
• Japanese: クサリヘビ (kusari-hebi), 鎖蛇 (ja) (くさりへび, kusari-hebi)
• Latin: aspis f
• Latvian: odze f
• Low German: Adder (nds) f; Krüüzadder f, Kriizadder f
• Macedonian: гуја f (guja)
• Polish: żmija (pl) f
• Portuguese: víbora (pt) f
• Russian: гадю́ка (ru) f (gadjúka)
• Sanskrit: पृदाकु (sa) m (pṛdāku)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: zmija f

• Spanish: víbora (es) f
• Swedish: huggorm (sv)
• Ukrainian: гадю́ка f (hadjúka)

Etymology 2

From add +‎ -er.

Noun

adder (plural adders)

1. Someone who or something which performs arithmetic addition; a machine for adding numbers.
2. Something which adds or increases.

   They sought out cost adders with an eye toward eliminating them.

Derived terms

• carry-lookahead adder
• carry-save adder
• carry-skip adder
• full adder
• half adder

Translations

what performs arithmetic addition

• Finnish: lisääjä, summain (circuit)
• Portuguese: somador m, somadora f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Spanish: sumador m

what increases

• Finnish: lisääjä
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: somador m, somadora f

Further reading

• adder on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• dared, dread, radde, re-add, readd

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Afrikaans

Etymology

From Dutch adder, from Middle Dutch adder, adre, misdivison of nadder, nadre, from Old Dutch *nadra, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈadər/

Noun

adder (plural adders, diminutive addertjie)

1. viper, adder

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch adder, adre, misdivison of nadder, nadre, from Old Dutch *nadra, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɑ.dər/

• audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ad‧der
• Rhymes: -ɑdər

Noun

adder m or f (plural adders or adderen, diminutive addertje n)

1. viper, adder; snake of the family Viperidae
2. common viper, Vipera berus

Hypernyms

• slang

Derived terms

• addergebroed
• boomadder
• een adder aan zijn borst koesteren
• een addertje onder het gras
• groefkopadder
• pofadder

Descendants

• Afrikaans: adder

Anagrams

• dader

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Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

adder

1. (deprecated template usage) imperative of addere

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Old Prussian

Conjunction

adder

1. or

   wāiklis adder mērgā - boy or girl

2. but