adder

CEFRC2

/ˈædɚ/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A type of poisonous snake.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper., A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera

Examples

  • We ran into a black adder in England.

  • "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in India."

At a glance

Sits at C2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
3

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. Any snake.

  2. A name loosely applied to various snakes more or less resembling a viper.

  3. A small venomous serpent of the genus Vipera

More examples

In context

  • The common adder is ovoviviparous.

  • They sought out cost adders with an eye toward eliminating them.

  • Entirely filled with the image of another, her heart, indeed, had the deaf ear of the adder, which heedeth not the voice of the charmer, charm he never so wisely.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

In the UK, the only venomous snake is the common blank.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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.