different between snake vs serpens

English

Etymology

From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-Germanic *snakô (compare German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”)), derived from *snakan? (“to crawl”) (compare Old High German snahhan), from Proto-Indo-European *sneg- (“to crawl; a creeping thing”). Cognate with Sanskrit ??? (n?gá, “snake”)). Doublet of n?ga.

Pronunciation

• enPR: sn?k, IPA^(key): /?sne?k/
• Rhymes: -e?k

Noun

snake (plural snakes)

1. A legless reptile of the sub-order Serpentes with a long, thin body and a fork-shaped tongue.

   Synonyms: joe blake, serpent
2. A treacherous person.
3. (Ireland) Somebody who acts deceitfully for social gain.
4. A tool for unclogging plumbing.

   Synonyms: auger, plumber's snake

5. A tool to aid cable pulling.

   Synonym: wirepuller

6. (Australia) A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake.
7. (slang) Trouser snake; the penis.

   Synonym: trouser snake

8. (mathematics) A series of Bézier curves.
9. (cartomancy) The seventh Lenormand card.

Derived terms

Descendants

• Sranan Tongo: sneki

Translations

Verb

snake (third-person singular simple present snakes, present participle snaking, simple past and past participle snaked)

1. (intransitive) To follow or move in a winding route.

   Synonyms: slither, wind

2. (transitive, Australia, slang) To steal slyly.
3. (transitive) To clean using a plumbing snake.
4. (US, informal) To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

5. (nautical) To wind round spirally, as a large rope with a smaller, or with cord, the small rope lying in the spaces between the strands of the large one; to worm.

Translations

See also

• anguine

Further reading

• snake on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Kasen, Keans, akens, asken, kaens, kenas, nakes, skean, sneak

Middle English

Alternative forms

• snak, snaca

Etymology

From Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snakô.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sna?k(?)/

Noun

snake (plural snakes or snaken or snake)

1. snake
2. serpent

Descendants

• English: snake
  • Sranan Tongo: sneki
• Scots: snak, snake, snaik

References

• “sn?ke, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

German

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin serp?ns, present active participle of serp? (“crawl, creep”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

serpens (not comparable)

1. (medicine, with Latin or Latin-like substantives) serpentlike

References

• “serpens” in Duden online

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *serpents. Present active participle of serp? (“crawl, creep”). Cognate with Sanskrit ???? (sarpá, “snake, serpent”), Ancient Greek ??????? (herpetón, “serpent, creeping animal”), Albanian gjarpër (“snake”) (Proto-Albanian *serpena).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?ser.pens/, [?s??rp??s?]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?ser.pens/, [?s?rp?ns]

Noun

serp?ns m or f (genitive serpentis); third declension

1. A serpent, snake
2. (astronomy) either Draco or Serpens
3. A louse
4. Any creeping animal

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Synonyms

• (serpent, snake): anguis, colubra
• (constellation Draco): Anguis, Draco
• (louse): ped?culus

Related terms

Descendants

Participle

serp?ns (genitive serpentis); third-declension one-termination participle

1. creeping, crawling

Declension

Third-declension participle.

¹When used purely as an adjective.

References

• serpens in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• serpens in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• serpens in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• serpens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette