Scorpion

How to spell scorpion

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce scorpion

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does scorpion mean?

1. nounA small predatory arachnid with pincers and a curved, venomous stinging tail.

Scorpion in a sentence

• The hikers shook out their boots in case a scorpion had crawled inside overnight.

• A desert scorpion glows pale green under ultraviolet light.

Where does scorpion come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word comes from the Latin scorpio (stem scorpion-), the name for the stinging arachnid, which Latin itself borrowed from the Greek skorpios meaning the same creature. English took it up through Old French scorpion during the 1200s and 1300s, when it appeared in bestiaries and translations of Scripture. The animal's tail, curved and tipped with venom, also lent its name to a Roman siege engine and even to a flail-like whip, so for centuries 'scorpion' could describe a weapon as well as a beast. The same root sits behind the zodiac sign Scorpio, which keeps the original Latin spelling. The spelling stays close to its Latin source, and the only mild trap is the soft '-pion' ending, which is pronounced 'pee-uhn' rather than spelled the way it sounds.

How the word is built

• scorpi- (from Latin scorpio, the arachnid)
• -on (noun ending carried over from Latin and Greek)