Where does “serpent” come from?

serpent (Middle Dutch) comes from Old French serpent, from Latin serpēns, from Latin serpō, from Proto-Indo-European serp- — to creep, crawl.

Ancestry of “serpent”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Frenchserpentsnake
2LatinserpēnsA serpent, snake
3Latinserpōto creep, crawl, move slowly of an animal
4Proto-Indo-Europeanserp-to creep, crawl

Words derived from “serpent”

Every word from Proto-Indo-European serp- →Every word from Latin serpō →Every word from Latin serpēns →
serpent — Etymology, Origin & Word History | Etymology Explorer