adder
/ˈædɚ/noun
adder is spelled A-D-D-E-R: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, adder means “A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of adder is adders.
How many letters and syllables are in adder?
| Letters | 5: A-D-D-E-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words; the 42,145th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is adder?
Adder appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 42,145th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce adder?
- US /ˈædɚ/
Adder has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-adder.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with adder?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as adder from its last stressed vowel (/ædəɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: dread.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of adder
- adders plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does adder mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
obsoleteAny snake.
- 2
UKA small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera
- 3
UKA common European adder (Vipera berus).
- 4
A puff adder, of Africa (genus Bitis).
- 5
CanadaUSA milk snake (Lampropeltis triangulum).
- 6
CanadaUSA hog-nosed snake, of genus Heterodon of harmless colubrid snakes found in North America
- 7
Death adders (Acanthophis spp.), elapid snakes found in Southeast Asia and Australia
- 8
A northern copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix mokasen), a venomous viper found in the eastern United States
- 9
Someone who or something which performs arithmetic addition; a machine for adding numbers.
- 10
An electronic device that adds voltages, currents or frequencies.
- 11
Something which adds or increases.
They sought out cost adders with an eye toward eliminating them.
noun
- 1
informalA person who has attention deficit disorder.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Adder in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Natter , Otter, Viper, Kreuzotter |
| Portuguese | cobra, serpente , víbora , somador, somadora |
| Spanish | serpiente, culebra , víbora , sumador |
| French | vipère |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does adder come from?
From Middle English nadder, addere, rebracketing of “a naddere” as “an addere”, from Old English nǣdre (“snake”), from Proto-West Germanic *nadrā, from Proto-Germanic *nadrǭ, from pre-Germanic *néh₁treh₂, variant of Proto-Indo-European *n̥h₁trih₂, from *(s)neh₁- (“to spin, twist”). See also West Frisian njirre, Dutch adder, German Natter, Otter; also Welsh neidr, Latin natrīx (“watersnake”), Dutch naaien.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).