# snake

> English word · Noun · IPA /sneɪk/ · frequency rank #4,895

## Definitions
1. Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptile with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues.
2. A person who acts deceitfully for personal or social gain; a treacherous person.
3. A tool for unclogging plumbing.
4. A tool to aid cable pulling.
5. A flavoured jube (confectionary) in the shape of a snake.
6. Trouser snake; the penis.
7. A series of Bézier curves.
8. The seventh Lenormand card.
9. An informer; a rat.
10. Ellipsis of snake in the tunnel.
11. Ellipsis of black snake (“firework that creates a trail of ash”).
12. Ellipsis of snake game.

## Etymology
From Middle English snake, from Old English snaca (“snake, serpent, reptile”), from Proto-West Germanic *snakō (“slider, snake”), from *snakan (“to creep, slide”), related to Old High German snahhan (“to sneak, slide”). Compare also Proto-Germanic *snēkô (“creeper, crawler”).
Cognate with German Low German Snake, Snaak (“snake”), dialectal German Schnake (“adder”), Danish snog (“grass snake”), Swedish snok (“grass snake”), Norwegian Nynorsk snåk (“viper, adder”), Faroese snákur (“grass snake”), Icelandic snákur (“snake”).

## Easily confused with
- **snap** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-snap)
- **soak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-soak)
- **state** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-state)
- **space** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-space)
- **stage** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-stage)
- **spoke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-spoke)
- **spare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-spare)
- **stake** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-stake)
- **sneak** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-sneak)
- **spike** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-spike)
- **stare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-stare)
- **stoke** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-stoke)
- **stale** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-stale)
- **spade** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-spade)
- **snare** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-snare)
- **snipe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-snipe)
- **stave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-stave)
- **Snape** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-snape)
- **suave** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-suave)
- **spate** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/snake-vs-spate)

## Common misspellings (7)
`nsake`, `sanke`, `snaek`, `snakke`, `snkae`, `snnake`, `ssnake`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/snake