viper

See also: Viper and VIPer

English

Etymology

From Middle French vipere, from Old French vipre, from Latin vīpera, contracted from vīvipara f (“viviparous”, adj.), from vivus (“alive”, adj.) +‎ parere (“to bear”, verb). Doublet of weever and wyvern.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈvaɪpɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪpə(ɹ)

Noun

viper (plural vipers)

1. A venomous snake in the family Viperidae.

   Synonym: adder

2. (informal) Any venomous snake.
3. (figurative) A dangerous, treacherous, or malignant person.
   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 62:

     And aggravate my folly who committed / To ſuch a viper his moſt ſacred truſt / Of ſecreſie, my ſafety, and my life.

   • 1879, Francis Beaumont, The Works of Beaumont and Fletcher: The Text Formed from a New Collation of the Early Editions, Volume 1, D. Appleton, page 350:

     Consider, for the love of Heaven, to what you run madly: will you take this viper into your bed?

4. (slang) A person who smokes marijuana.
   • a. 1936, Stuff Smith (lyrics and music), “If You're a Viper”:

     Dreamed about a reefer five feet long / Mighty Mezz, but not too strong / You'll be high but not for long / If you're a viper

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:viper.

Derived terms

• blunt-nosed viper
• carpet viper
• chain viper
• dilute Russell's viper venom time
• Gabon viper
• Gaboon viper
• gaboon viper
• green pit viper
• horned viper
• lowlands hump-nosed pit viper
• Nikolsky's viper
• nourish a viper in one's bosom
• pitless viper
• pit viper
• red viper (Agkistrodon contortrix)
• Russell's viper
• Russell's viper venom clotting time
• Russell's viper venom time
• sand viper
• shore pit viper
• temple viper
• viperfish (Chauliodus spp.)
• viperish
• viper's bugloss (Echium vulgare)
• viper's grass

 

Translations

a poisonous snake in the family Viperidae

• Afrikaans: adder (af)
• Albanian: shlligë (sq), nepërkë (sq) f, rrëshajë (sq) f
• Arabic: أفعى
• Aramaic:

  Hebrew: אכדנא f (’ekidnā’)

  Syriac: ܐܟܕܢܐ f (’ekidnā’)

• Armenian: իժ (hy) (iž)
• Aromanian: vipirã f
• Azerbaijani: gürzə
• Belarusian: гадзю́ка f (hadzjúka)
• Bulgarian: усойница (bg) f (usojnica), пепеля́нка (bg) f (pepeljánka)
• Catalan: escurçó (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 毒蛇 (zh) (dúshé), 蝰蛇 (zh) (kuíshé)

• Czech: zmije (cs) f
• Dalmatian: carnoit m
• Demotic: fꜣy (fay)
• Dutch: adder (nl)
• Esperanto: vipero (eo), vipuro (eo)
• Estonian: rästik (et)
• Finnish: kyy (fi), kyykäärme (fi)
• Franco-Provençal: crotâl m, vipèro m
• French: vipère (fr) f
• Friulian: lipare f, vipare f
• Galician: víbora (gl) f
• Georgian: გველგესლა (gvelgesla), გველი (ka) (gveli)
• German: Kreuzotter (de) f, Otter (de) f, Viper (de) f
• Greek: έχιδνα (el) f (échidna), οχιά (el) f (ochiá)

  Ancient: ἔχιδνα f (ékhidna)

• Hebrew: צפע (he) m (tséfa)
• Hindi: वाइपर m (vāipar)
• Hungarian: vipera (hu)
• Icelandic: höggormur (is) m
• Ido: vipero (io)
• Indonesian: beludak (id)
• Ingrian: jaadumato, kirjava mato, gadjukka
• Irish: nathair f
• Istriot: beîpara f
• Italian: vipera (it) f
• Japanese: 毒蛇 (ja) (どくへび, doku-hebi), クサリヘビ (kusari-hebi), 鎖蛇 (ja) (くさりへび, kusari-hebi)
• Korean: 독사(毒蛇) (ko) (doksa)
• Latin: vipera f
• Latvian: odze
• Lithuanian: angis f
• Low German: Adder (nds) f; Krüüzadder f, Kriizadder f
• Macedonian: отровница f (otrovnica)
• Maltese: lifgħa
• Middle English: vipera
• Norwegian: huggorm n
• Persian: گرزه‌مار (garze-mâr), گرزه (fa) (garze)
• Piedmontese: vipra f
• Polish: żmija (pl) f
• Portuguese: víbora (pt) f
• Romanian: năpârcă (ro) f, viperă (ro)
• Romansch: vipra f
• Russian: гадю́ка (ru) f (gadjúka)
• Sanskrit: पृदाकु (sa) m (pṛdāku)
• Slovene: gad m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: zmija f

• Spanish: víbora (es) f
• Swedish: huggorm (sv) c
• Tagalog: ulupong
• Tocharian B: arṣāklo
• Turkish: engerek (tr)
• Ukrainian: гадю́ка f (hadjúka)
• Welsh: gwiber f, neidr ddu f
• West Frisian: njirre c

adder — see adder

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “viper n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang