Colubrid
/ˈkɒl.jʊ.brɪd/noun
A snake belonging to the family Colubridae, a large and diverse group that includes many mostly nonvenomous species.
Did you know?The family name Colubridae was built from Latin coluber, the same ancient snake-word that also produced English cobra through Romance-language forms.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Latin
Latin
coluber
“Snake or serpent; a masculine Latin noun.”
Classical Latin
Latin
colubra
“Female snake or serpent; the feminine counterpart of coluber.”
Medieval Romance
Spanish
culebra
“Snake; descended from Latin colubra.”
16th–17th Century
Portuguese
cobra
“Snake; shortened from cobra-de-capello, literally “hooded snake,” and ultimately related to Latin colubra.”
19th Century
New Latin
Colubridae
“The zoological family name formed from Coluber, used for a large snake family.”
Modern English
English
colubrid
“A member of the family Colubridae, or relating to that family.”