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Added 9 October 2026

snake

/sneɪk/ noun

In Latin: anguis, serpēns, vīpera Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about snake at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
A person who acts deceitfully for personal or social gain; a treacherous person.
A tool for unclogging plumbing.

verb

To follow or move in a winding route.
The path snaked through the forest.
To steal slyly.
He snaked my DVD!
To clean using a plumbing snake.

Origin

From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-West Germanic *snakō (“slider, snake”), from *snakan (“to creep, slide”), related to Old High German snahhan (“to sneak, slide”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *snēkô (“creeper, crawler”). Cognate with German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Danish snog (“grass snake”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk snåk (“viper, adder”), Faroese snákur (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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