English
shieldtail
From shield + tail.
Proto-Indo-European *(s)kelH- ‘cut, split’
Proto-Germanic *skelduz
Proto-West Germanic *skeldu
Old English scield
Middle English scheld ‘a shield’
English shield
Proto-Indo-European *deḱ- ‘to tear, fray, shred’
…
Proto-Germanic *taglą ‘hair, fiber’
Proto-West Germanic *tagl
Old English tæġel
Middle English tail
English tail
Today it means
noun Any species of small burrowing snakes of the family Uropeltidae, native to Sri Lanka and Southern Asia.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “shieldtail”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / shieldtail