Etymograph

English

snake

Snake comes from Old English snaca ‘snake, serpent, reptile’, from Proto-West Germanic *snakan ‘to creep, slide’, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic *sneganą.

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sneganą1‘to crawl, creep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snakaną1reconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snakan1‘to creep, slide’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snakō1‘slider, snake’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150snaca1‘snake, serpent, reptile’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snake1
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1838snake1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English snake
  2. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1838, – 1839 October, Charles Dickens: “Mrs. Kenwigs was horror-stricken to think that she should…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*sneganąWiktionary, English snake‘to crawl, creep’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*snakanąWiktionary, English snakereconstructed
  3. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snakanWiktionary, English snake‘to creep, slide’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*snakōWiktionary, English snake‘slider, snake’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150snacaWiktionary, English snake‘snake, serpent, reptile’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500snakeWiktionary, English snake
  7. Englishearliest quotation 1838snakeWiktionary, English snake. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1838, – 1839 October, Charles Dickens: “Mrs. Kenwigs was horror-stricken to think that she should…”

Every English word from Proto-Germanic *sneganą

Today it means

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

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “snake”. 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 / Proto-Germanic *sneganą / snake

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