Definition

a snake, figuratively, (as a type of sly cunning) an artful malicious person, especially Satan

Etymology

probably from G3700 (ὀπτάνομαι) (through the idea of sharpness of vision);

Where the KJV renders it

• serpent

Every distinct English word the King James Version uses to translate this Greek term. The variety shows what readers in English receive across many different surface words — the same underlying word, scattered across the English Bible under different names.

What the first audience heard

A deep-dive treatment of this word is in the works. The featured chapter above carries the long form of what this word meant to its first audience.