Serpent Means the Creeping One
A serpent is a snake, especially a large or symbolic one. The Latin means creeping, and the word also named a curved brass instrument.
A serpent is a snake, usually a large one or one with symbolic weight. The Latin *serpens* means creeping, from *serpere*, to crawl. English keeps *snake* for the animal and *serpent* for the myth, the heraldry and the sermon — and, oddly, for a coiled bass wind instrument used in churches from the sixteenth century.
- A snake. *A sea serpent.*
- A symbolic or literary snake. *The serpent in the garden.*
- A curved bass wind instrument. *A church serpent.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | serpent | A coiled serpent. |
| Plural | serpents | Carved serpents. |
| Adjective | serpentine | A serpentine road. |
| Related | snake | A grass snake. |
| Related | reptile | A cold-blooded reptile. |
How it is used in a sentence
- The temple is decorated with serpents.Symbolic use.
- The road is serpentine for ten kilometres.Winding.
- Sea serpents appear on old charts.Where knowledge ran out.
Snakes in symbol and myth
- Ouroboros — a serpent eating its own tail
- Caduceus and Rod of Asclepius — staffs with serpents, one medical, one not
- Naga — serpent beings in South and South-East Asian tradition
- Jörmungandr — the world serpent of Norse myth
- Serpentine — a green mineral named for its snakeskin pattern
From Latin *serpentem*, a creeping thing, from *serpere*, to creep — related to Greek *herpein*, which gives *herpetology*, the study of reptiles.
Serpent or snake?
They mean the same animal. Snake is the ordinary word; serpent is literary, religious or heraldic.
Which staff is the medical one?
The Rod of Asclepius, with a single snake and no wings. The two-snaked winged caduceus belongs to Hermes and is often used by mistake.