Cobra
nounA venomous snake of Africa and Asia that can spread the loose skin of its neck into a hood when threatened.
How to spell cobra
5 letters · 2 syllables
How to pronounce cobra
Say the part in capitals loudest.
What does cobra mean?
- nounA venomous snake of Africa and Asia that can spread the loose skin of its neck into a hood when threatened.
Cobra in a sentence
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The zoo keeper handled the cobra with long metal tongs.
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A startled cobra reared up and spread its hood.
Where does cobra come from?
Language of origin: Other
The word arrived in English in the 1800s as a shortening of the Portuguese phrase cobra de capelo, which translates literally as 'snake with a hood', a vivid description of the way the animal spreads the skin behind its head when it rears up. The first element, cobra, simply meant 'snake' in Portuguese and came down from the Latin colubra, a feminine form meaning 'serpent'. Portuguese traders and colonists in India and Africa applied the full phrase to the hooded snakes they encountered, and English speakers clipped it to the single word we use today. The same Latin colubra survives in the scientific name of the colubrid snakes, a reminder of the shared ancestry. Because the word came whole from Portuguese, its spelling is refreshingly straightforward, following the sound exactly.
How the word is built
- cobra (from Portuguese cobra: snake, from Latin colubra: serpent)
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