serpent

Etymology

From Middle English serpent, from Old French serpent (“snake, serpent”), from Latin serpēns (“snake”), present active participle of serpere (“to creep, crawl”), from Proto-Italic *serpō, from Proto-Indo-European *serp-. In this sense, displaced native Old English nǣdre (“snake, serpent”), whence Modern English adder. Compare Sanskrit सर्प (sarpa, “snake”), which is a descendant of the same Proto-Indo-European word as English serpent.

noun

1. (now literary) A snake, especially a large or dangerous one.
2. (figurative) A subtle, treacherous, malicious person.
3. (music) An obsolete wind instrument in the brass family, whose shape is suggestive of a snake (Wikipedia article).
4. A kind of firework with a serpentine motion.

verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To wind or meander
2. (obsolete, transitive) To encircle.