snake

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sneɪk/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old English snaca,^[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *snakô,^[2][3] cognate with Middle Low German snake and Old Norse snákr,^[2][4] related to snail and to Old High German snahhan (“to creep”), from PIE Proto-Indo-European *sneg- (“to crawl”).^[3][4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1000 in Barnhart and the OED, where Old English snaca translates Latin scorpio.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In modern English snake has gradually replaced serpent in popular use;^[3] it was traditionally the British grass snake as distinct from the venomous adder.^[3] A treacherous person is a snake from 1590, after Aesop's fable,^[2][7] and snake in the grass translates Virgil's latet anguis in herba.^[3][6] Snake-like devices are named from the 17th century.^[3] The verb, to twist hair, is from 1653, and to move or wind like a snake from 1848, in Bartlett's Dictionary of Americanisms.^[2][3] Snake eyes, two ones in dice, is from 1919, and snakes and ladders is a board game.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – Old English snaca.^[2][7]
• 1590 – a treacherous person.^[2]
• 1653 – the verb.^[2]
• 1848 – to move like a snake.^[2]
• 1919 – snake eyes.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A long, limbless reptile, some kinds of which have a venomous bite.
2. A treacherous or deceitful person.
3. A flexible tool for clearing blocked pipes.

Verb

1. To move or extend in a winding, twisting way.

Word family

• snakelike

Related words

• snail
• sneak
• serpent
• snaky

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press