serpent (French)

Where does "serpent" come from?

The French noun 'serpent' descends from the Latin 'serpentem', which is the accusative form of the word 'serpēns'[1][2][3]. The Latin term originated as the present active participle of the verb 'serpō', meaning to 'crawl' or 'creep'[4]. The root of this lineage reaches back to the Proto-Indo-European form '*sérpeti' derived from the base '*serp-'[1][2]. Through this long transmission from Old French and Middle French, the word has maintained its primary meaning of 'snake'[1][2][3].

Open questions

The reconstructed Proto-Indo-European forms '*serp-' and '*sérpeti' are hypothetical stages used to explain the linguistic ancestry of the term. [1] [2]

Full etymology tree

serpent (French), 'snake'
- inherited serpent (Middle French), 'snake'
  - inherited serpent (Old French), 'snake'
    - inherited serpentem (Latin), 'accusative singular of serpēns'
      - inherited serpens (Latin), 'A serpent, snake'
        inherited *serpents (Proto-Italic), 'snake'
        derived *serpō (Proto-Italic)
        inherited *sérpeti (Proto-Indo-European), 'to be creeping, to be crawling'
        derived *serp- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to creep, crawl'

Ancestors

serpent (Middle French)
serpent (Old French)
serpentem (Latin)

Descendants and derived words

c'est le serpent qui se mord la queue (French)
serpent à lunettes (French)
serpent à sonnettes (French)
serpent corail (French)
serpent de mer (French)
serpenter (French)

Sources

Updated August 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris