serpentear
Spanish, verb/seɾpenteˈaɾ/
serpentear is spelled S-E-R-P-E-N-T-E-A-R (10 letters) and appears about once in every 32 million words in written Spanish, the 204,261st most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Serpentear is a Spanish verb meaning “to wind; to meander; to go like a serpent; to serpent” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Andar, moverse o extenderse, formando vueltas y tornos como la serpiente”.
What does serpentear mean in English?
verb
- 1
to wind; to meander; to go like a serpent; to serpent
- 2
to wriggle
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Andar, moverse o extenderse, formando vueltas y tornos como la serpiente.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of serpentear
- serpenteo first-person present singular
- serpenteé first-person preterite singular
- serpenteado participle past
- serpenteando gerund
- serpenteada feminine participle past
- serpenteados masculine participle past
- serpenteadas feminine participle past
- serpenteas indicative informal present
- serpenteás indicative informal present
- serpentea indicative present singular
- serpenteamos first-person indicative plural
- serpenteáis indicative plural present
- serpentean indicative plural present
- serpenteaba first-person imperfect indicative
- serpenteabas imperfect indicative second-person
- serpenteábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- serpenteabais imperfect indicative plural
- serpenteaban imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce serpentear?
- /seɾpenteˈaɾ/
- [seɾ.pẽn̪.t̪eˈaɾ]
- [seɾpẽn̪t̪eˈaɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to serpentear
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is serpentear in Spanish?
serpentear appears about once in every 32 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).