Cobra
/ˈkoʊ.brə/noun
A venomous hooded snake of the genus Naja, native chiefly to Africa and Asia.
Did you know?Portuguese explorers called the animal cobra-de-capelo, meaning “hooded snake”; English speakers eventually shortened the phrase to cobra, while Portuguese still uses cobra broadly for snakes.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kolu̯r̥
“A reconstructed term associated with snake or serpent forms”
Classical Latin
Latin
colubra
“Female snake; serpent”
Medieval Latin
Latin
colubra
“Snake or serpent, continuing the Classical Latin form”
15th–16th Century
Portuguese
cobra
“Snake; shortened in compounds such as cobra-de-capelo, “hooded snake””
16th–17th Century
Portuguese
cobra-de-capelo
“Hooded snake, the Portuguese name applied to the cobra”
Late 17th Century
English
cobra
“A hooded venomous snake, especially a Naja”
Modern English
English
cobra
“A venomous hooded snake of the genus Naja”