serpent

English

/ˈsɜːpənt/, /ˈsɝpənt/

noun
Definitions
  • A snake.
  • (musical instruments) An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake ( (instrument)|Wikipedia article).
  • (figurative) A subtle, treacherous, malicious person.
  • A kind of firework with a serpentine motion.

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French serpent (snake, serpent) derived from Latin serpēns (snake, serpent, a snake) derived from Proto-Indo-European *serp- (creep, crawl, reap, harvest, sickle).

Origin

Proto-Indo-European

*serp-

Gloss

creep, crawl, reap, harvest, sickle

Concept
Semantic Field

Motion

Ontological Category

Action/Process

Kanji

Emoji

Timeline

Distribution of cognates by language

Geogrpahic distribution of cognates

Cognates and derived terms