snake in the grass
/ˈsneɪk ɪn ðə ˈɡɹɑːs/
"snake-in-the-grass" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“snake in the grass” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 18
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A hidden enemy.
Corpus desk
Index EN-snake-in-the-grass · snake in the grass · English
snake in the grass · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 18 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "S" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | snake in the grass |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈsneɪk ɪn ðə ˈɡɹɑːs/ |
| Letters | 18 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “snake in the grass” in English
Rare enough to double-check
snake in the grass is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈsneɪk ɪn ðə ˈɡɹɑːs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A hidden enemy.".
snake in the grass has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which typically means the spelling is too distinctive to be mistaken for another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of Latin latet anguis in herbā (literally “a snake hides in the grass”), from Eclogue III by the Roman poet Virgil (traditionally 70 – 19 B.C.E.). Compare Dutch addertje onder het gras. The correct English form is snake in the grass, spelled S-N-A-K-E- -I-N- -T-H-E- -G-R-A-S-S.
Definition
- 1A hidden enemy.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how snake in the grass appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
The trouble is, I trusted him too much from the start. He has proved to be a snake in the grass.
Is he not here to throw us out—a thief, a spy, a snake in the grass?
Etymology
Calque of Latin latet anguis in herbā (literally “a snake hides in the grass”), from Eclogue III by the Roman poet Virgil (traditionally 70 – 19 B.C.E.). Compare Dutch addertje onder het gras.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.