serpent
/ˈsɝpənt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.46 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A snake-like creature, such as a sea serpent.
noun
A person who is subtle, malicious, treacherous, or deceiving.
noun
An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).
noun
A kind of firework with a serpentine motion.
Example Sentences
- "He falls into it, who has digg'd a Pit. Who breaks a Hedge is with a Serpent bit."
- "Coiled up behind the shrub, […] was a green imamba, the most dreaded of all South African serpents."
- "Any serpent six feet long looks formidable; and over that length, one takes on the aspect of a chimera."
- "Then Beowulf too rallied. With his whetted dagger he slit a gash in the serpent's middle."
- "He is a very serpent in my way."
- "'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.'"
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *serp- Proto-Indo-European *sérpeti Proto-Italic *serpō Latin serpō Latin serpēns Old French serpentbor. Middle English serpent English 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 serpent.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈsɝpənt/
- British English: /ˈsɜːpənt/