snake

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snake^¹

/sneɪk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -eɪk

Where it comes from

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”).

noun snakes · snek

Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues. The man writhed like a trampled snake, and a red foam bubbled from his lips.
Similar: Joe Blake, serpent
figuratively A person who acts deceitfully for personal or social gain; a treacherous person. Near-synonyms: rat; see also Thesaurus:betrayer
Similar: rat, backstabber, betrayer, cockatrice, double-crosser, quisling, ratter, recreant, renegade, serpent, snake, snake in the grass
A tool for unclogging plumbing.
Similar: auger, plumber's snake
A tool to aid cable pulling.
Similar: wirepuller
Australia, UK A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake.
slang Trouser snake; the penis.
Similar: trouser snake
A series of Bézier curves.
The seventh Lenormand card.
Multicultural London English An informer; a rat. Gem’s a snake for Kamale, man.
Similar: abaddon, accuser, beefer, bewrayer, bigmouth, blabber, blabtale, blabtongue, canary, CI, finger, fink
slang A person who interferes with another's run or who takes their run out of turn.
abbreviation, ellipsis, historical Ellipsis of snake in the tunnel The snake failed to provide an anchor for currency stability and, through it, disinflation.
abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of black snake (“firework that creates a trail of ash”).
abbreviation, ellipsis Ellipsis of snake game

Similar: danger noodle, nope rope, snake, serpent

verb snakes · snaking · snaked · snek

intransitive To follow or move in a winding route. The path snaked through the forest.
Similar: slither, wind
Australia, slang, transitive To steal slyly. He snaked my DVD!
transitive To clean using a plumbing snake.
US, informal To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out. November 27 1835, N.B. St. John, letter to George Thompson his wife and children shall not be forced to flee from the hearth of a friend, lest they should be snaked out by men in civic authority
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.
Multicultural London English To inform; to rat; often with out. He says he didn't snake and I believe him.
slang To interfere with another's run or to take one's run out of turn. Snaking is the number one way to get hurt and/or get rejected by existing scenes at your local skatepark or street spot.

Snake^²

proper noun Snakes

countable, uncountable The sixth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar.
countable, uncountable An early computer game, later popular on mobile phones, in which the player attempts to manoeuvre a perpetually growing snake so as to collect food items and avoid colliding with walls or the snake's tail.
countable, uncountable A surname.
countable, uncountable A river in the northwestern United States, tributary to the Columbia.
abbreviation, countable, ellipsis, uncountable Ellipsis of Snake Island

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: ophidian, serpent, hydra, auger, snake river, viper, rattlesnake, cobra, boa, frog, snakebite, lion, nest, tree, animal, species

noun

Similar: danger noodle, nope rope, snake, serpent

Translations

Every language

noun legless reptile

Español	serpiente, culebra, sierpe, víbora
한국어	뱀 baem
日本語	蛇 hebi, ヘビ hebi
中文	蛇 shé, 長蟲 /长虫 chángchong, chángchóng
हिन्दी	साँप sā̃p, सर्प sarp, नाग nāg
Kiswahili	nyoka
Português	cobra, serpente, ofídio, víbora
Français	serpent
Deutsch	Schlange, Wurm
Italiano	serpente, serpe, biscia
Ελληνικά	φίδι fídi
Română	șarpe
Русский	змея́ zmejá
Tiếng Việt	rắn
العربية	ثُعْبَان ṯuʕbān, حَنَش ḥanaš, حَيَّة ḥayya, أَفْعَى ʔafʕā
עברית	נָחָשׁ nakhásh

noun treacherous person

Español	víbora
Português	cobra, víbora
Deutsch	Verräter, Betrüger, Windei
Italiano	serpe
Ελληνικά	φίδι fídi
Русский	змея́ zmejá, гадю́ка gadjúka, гад gad, га́дина gádina

noun plumbing tool

Français	furet
Deutsch	Abflussspirale
Русский	сантехни́ческий трос santexníčeskij tros

verb to move in a winding path

Español	culebrear, viborear, hacer culebra
日本語	蛇行する dakō suru
Português	serpentear
Français	serpenter
Deutsch	winden, sich winden, schlängeln
Italiano	serpeggiare
Ελληνικά	ελίσσομαι elíssomai

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MLA

"snake." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/snake. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

snake. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/snake

Chicago

"snake." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/snake.

BibTeX

@misc{snake_2026,
  title = {snake},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/snake},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}