Crossword Dictionary

serpent 

snake, serpent, ophidian - n 
limbless scaly elongate reptile; some are venomous 

wordplays

A serpent is a snake. If you keep a serpent as a pet, you may have to get used to feeding it live mice.

While you're probably more likely to use the word snake for this slithery reptile, serpent tends to be the word that shows up in folk tales and mythology. Serpents have represented qualities ranging from evil to fertility to poison throughout history, and even today the symbol of medicine is a staff entwined by a serpent. The Latin root is serpentem, "creeping thing," from serpere, "to creep."

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etymology

c. 1300, "limbless reptile," also the tempter in Genesis iii.1-5, from Old French serpent, sarpent"snake, serpent" (12c.), from Latin serpentem (nominative serpens) "snake; creeping thing," also the name of a constellation, from present participle of serpere "to creep."

This is reconstructed to be from PIE *serp- "to crawl, creep" (source also of Sanskrit sarpati"creeps," sarpah "serpent;" Greek herpein "to creep," herpeton "serpent;" Albanian garper"serpent").

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