serpent

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.

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

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧pent

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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]:

     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.

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, “[Diary entry for January 31 1645]”, 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

• herpetology
• lizard
• reptile
• snake

• penster, present, repents, respent

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

• IPA^(key): (Central) [sərˈpen]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [sərˈpent]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [seɾˈpent]

• Audio (Valencian)

  (file)

serpent m or f (plural serpents)

1. snake

   Synonym: serp

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

• IPA^(key): /sɛrˈpɛnt/

• audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ser‧pent
• Rhymes: -ɛnt

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

serpent f (plural serpenten, diminutive serpentje n)

1. (music) serpent (wind instrument)

• → West Frisian: serpint

• persten, strepen

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

• IPA^(key): /sɛʁ.pɑ̃/

• audio

  (file)

serpent m (plural serpents, feminine serpente)

1. snake

• “serpent”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• présent

serpent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of serpō

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

serpent m (plural serpenz)

1. snake

• French: serpent

From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

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

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

1. snake

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

Borrowed from French serpent or English serpent.

serpent n (plural serpente)

1. (music) serpent

• serpaint (Vallader)

From Latin serpēns, serpentem.

serpent m (plural serpents)

1. (Surmiran) snake

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