serpent

See also: Serpent and sèrpent

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), from the verb serpō (“I creep, crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *serp-.

Pronunciation

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧pent

Noun

serpent (plural serpents)

1. A snake.
2. (music) An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).
3. (figuratively) A subtle, treacherous, malicious person.
   • 1887, H. Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure‎^[1]:

     At last it came. `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.'

4. A kind of firework with a serpentine motion.

Derived terms

• serpentarium
• serpenticide

Related terms

• serpentine
• Old Serpent
• serpentist

Translations

snake

• Arabic: ثُعْبَان‎ m (ṯuʿbān), حَنَش‎ m (ḥanaš), حَيَّة‎ f (ḥayya), أَفْعَى‎ f (ʾafʿā)

  Egyptian Arabic: تعبان‎ m (tiʿbān)

• Armenian: օձ (hy) (ōj)
• Azerbaijani: ilan (az)
• Breton: naer (br) f, sarpant (br) m
• Catalan: serpent (ca) f, serp (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 蛇 (se⁴)

  Mandarin: 蛇 (zh) (shé)

• Chuukese: serepenit
• Czech: had (cs) m
• Danish: slange (da) c
• Dutch: serpent (nl) n, slang (nl) f
• Egyptian: (ḥfꜣw m)
• English:

  Middle English: addere, naddere

  Old English: nædre, nǣddre

• Esperanto: serpento (eo)
• Finnish: käärme (fi)
• French: serpent (fr) m
• Friulian: sarpint m
• Galician: serpe (gl) f, bicha f
• Georgian: გველი (gveli)
• German: Schlange (de) f, (poetic) Wurm (de) m
• Greek: ερπετό (el) n (erpetó), φίδι (el) n (fídi)

  Ancient: ὄφις m (óphis), ἑρπετόν n (herpetón)

• Hebrew: נָחָשׁ‎ (he) m (nakhásh), שָׂרָף‎ (he) m (saraf)
• Hungarian: kígyó (hu)

• Icelandic: höggormur (is) m, naðra (is) f
• Indonesian: ular (id)
• Italian: serpente (it) m, serpe (it) m
• Japanese: 蛇 (ja) (へび, hebi)
• Korean: 뱀 (ko) (baem)
• Latin: serpēns (la), coluber m, anguis (la) m
• Latvian: čūska (lv) f
• Macedonian: змија f (zmija)
• Manx: ardnieu m, aarnieu m
• Maori: nākahi
• Nahuatl: coatl (nah)
• Occitan: sèrp (oc) m
• Ojibwe: ginebig
• Oromo: bofa
• Persian: مار‎ (fa) (mâr), اربد‎ (arbad)
• Plautdietsch: Schlang f
• Polish: wąż (pl) m
• Portuguese: serpente (pt) f
• Quechua: amaru (qu)
• Romanian: șarpe (ro) m
• Russian: змея́ (ru) (zmejá)
• Sanskrit: सर्प (sa) m (sarpa), अहि (sa) m (ahi)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: zmija (sh) f, guja (sh) f

• Spanish: serpiente (es) f, (archaic) sierpe (es) f
• Swahili: joka
• Swedish: orm (sv) c
• Tocharian B: sarpe
• Turkish: yılan (tr)
• Ugaritic: 𐎐𐎈𐎌 (nḥš), 𐎁𐎘𐎐 (bṯn)
• Volapük: snek (vo)
• Walloon: sierpint (wa) m
• Welsh: sarff (cy) f
• Yiddish: שלאַנג‎ f (shlang)

musical instrument

• Catalan: serpentó (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蛇号 (shéhào)

• Dutch: serpent (nl) f
• Finnish: serpentti
• German: Serpent m or n

• Italian: serpentone (it) m, serpente (it) m
• Japanese: セルパン (serupan)
• Portuguese: serpentão m
• Spanish: serpentón m
• Volapük: särpentum

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Norwegian: ^{(please verify)} slange (no)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} had (sk) m

• Telugu: ^{(please verify)} పాము (te) (pāmu)

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, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for January 31 1645 (Julian calendar)]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […] , volume I, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1819, OCLC 976971842:

     fruit-trees, whose boles are serpented with excellent vines

See also

• herpetology
• lizard
• reptile
• snake

Anagrams

• penster, present, repents, respent

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Catalan

Etymology

From Latin serpēns, serpentem, from serpō (“crawl, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *serp-.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /səɾˈpent/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /sərˈpen/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /seɾˈpent/

• Audio (Valencian)

  (file)

Noun

serpent m or f (plural serpents)

1. snake

Synonyms

• serp

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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch serpent, from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), from the verb serpō (“I creep, crawl”), from Proto-Indo-European *serp-.

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

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French

Etymology

From Middle French serpent, from Old French serpent, from Latin serpentem, accusative form of serpēns, from serpō (“crawl, creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *serp-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.pɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

serpent m (plural serpents)

1. snake

Derived terms

• c'est le serpent qui se mord la queue
• serpent à lunettes
• serpent à plumes
• serpent à sonnettes
• serpent corail
• serpent d'eau
• serpent de mer

 

Further reading

• “serpent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• présent

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Latin

Verb

serpent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of serpō

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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

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Old French

Etymology

From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

Noun

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

1. snake

Descendants

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

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Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Vallader) serpaint

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