serpere

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin serpere, present active infinitive of serpō (“I creep, crawl”), from Proto-Italic *serpō, from Proto-Indo-European *sérp-e-ti ~ *sérp-onti, thematic root present of *serp- (“to creep, crawl”). Cognate with Greek έρπω (érpo, “I crawl, creep”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛr.pe.re/
• Rhymes: -ɛrpere
• Hyphenation: sèr‧pe‧re

Verb

serpere

1. (literary, intransitive, chiefly figurative) to snake (to follow or move in a winding route)

   Synonym: serpeggiare

   • 1840, Alessandro Manzoni, I promessi sposi‎^[1], Tip. Guglielmini e Redaelli, Capitolo XXXI, page 591:

     andò covando e serpendo lentamente, tutto il restante dell’anno, e ne’ primi mesi del susseguente 1630.

     [the contagion] went on lurking and creeping for the rest of the year, and the first months of the following 1630

Usage notes

• The verb lacks the past participle form and the compound tenses.

Related terms

• serpe
• serpente

References

• serpere in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

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Latin

Verb

(deprecated template usage) serpere

1. present active infinitive of serpō