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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

snake.

Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/sneɪk/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.

  2. A person who acts deceitfully for personal or social gain; a treacherous person.

    figuratively
  3. A tool for unclogging plumbing.

  4. A tool to aid cable pulling.

  5. A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake.

    Australia · UK
  6. Trouser snake; the penis.

    slang
  7. A series of Bézier curves.

  8. The seventh Lenormand card.

  9. An informer; a rat.

    Multicultural-London-English
    Gem’s a snake for Kamale, man.
  10. A person who interferes with another's run or who takes their run out of turn.

    slang
  11. Ellipsis of snake in the tunnel.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis · historical
  12. Ellipsis of black snake (“firework that creates a trail of ash”).

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
  13. Ellipsis of snake game.

    abbreviation · alt-of · ellipsis
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *sneganą Proto-Germanic *snakaną Proto-West Germanic *snakan Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *snakō Old English snaca Middle English snake English snake 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”).

verb/sneɪk/General-American, Received-Pronunciation
  1. To follow or move in a winding route.

    intransitive
    The path snaked through the forest.
    The river snakes through the valley.
  2. To steal slyly.

    Australia · slang · transitive
    He snaked my DVD!
  3. To clean using a plumbing snake.

    transitive
  4. To drag or draw, as a snake from a hole; often with out.

    US · informal
  5. 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.

  6. To inform; to rat; often with out.

    Multicultural-London-English
    He says he didn't snake and I believe him.
  7. To interfere with another's run or to take one's run out of turn.

    slang
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Germanic *sneganą Proto-Germanic *snakaną Proto-West Germanic *snakan Proto-Indo-European *-ō Proto-Germanic *-ô Proto-West Germanic *-ō Proto-West Germanic *snakō Old English snaca Middle English snake English snake 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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.