culebra

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuˈlebɾa/ [kuˈle.β̞ɾa]
• Rhymes: -ebɾa
• Syllabification: cu‧le‧bra

Noun

culebra f (plural culebres)

1. (Eastern, rare) dialectal form of culiebra

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish culebra (“snake”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuˈlebɾa/, [kuˈle.bɾa]
• Hyphenation: cu‧le‧bra

Noun

culebra

1. snake; serpent

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Classical Latin coluber

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Italic *-ā

Classical Latin -a

Classical Latin colubra

Vulgar Latin *colobra

Old Spanish culuebra

Spanish culebra

Inherited from Old Spanish culuebra, from Vulgar Latin *colobra, from Classical Latin colubra. Cognate with Portuguese cobra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuˈlebɾa/ [kuˈle.β̞ɾa]

• Audio (Spain):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ebɾa
• Syllabification: cu‧le‧bra
• Homophone: Culebra

Noun

culebra f (plural culebras)

1. snake, serpent (legless reptile of the sub-order Serpentes)

   Synonyms: serpiente, víbora, (archaic) culebro

2. (specifically) (colubrid) snake (snake in the family Colubridae, completely covered in scales and mostly nonvenomous)
3. (specifically) a small snake

Hyponyms

• cascabel
• cobra
• crótalo
• mamba
• pitón
• sierpe
• taipán
• víbora

Derived terms

• aculebrar
• culebra bastarda
• culebra de agua
• culebra de cascabel
• culebra de collar
• culebra de cristal
• culebra de escalera
• culebra viperina
• culebrear
• culebrón
• hierba de la culebra
• sapos y culebras

Related terms

• cobra

Descendants

• Chavacano: culebra
• Papiamentu: kolebra

Further reading

• “culebra”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “culebra”, in Diccionario del español actual (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA

Anagrams

• curable