Sunday Word: Ophidian

[sallymn]

ophidian [oh-fid-ee-uhn]

noun:
any reptile of the suborder Ophidia; a snake
adjective:
1 belonging or pertaining to the suborder Ophidia (Serpentes)
2 of, relating to, or resembling snakes

Examples:

Snakes on a playing field, anyone? An obnoxious ophidian invaded a soccer pitch in Guatemala, delaying a game between Nueva Concepcion and Municipal. The serpent, needless to say, was immediately designated for relegation. (Dwight Perry, Sideline Chatter: But he’s since been banned from his office's NCAA pool , Seattle Times, February 2022)

The jeweler’s earliest snake-inspired pieces tended toward abstraction, referencing ophidian sinuousness by way of a corrugated gold bracelet — based on the articulated flex of gas piping — that slithered up the wrist. (Megan Conway, A Snake-Inspired Bracelet Watch Evolves Once More, New York Times, March 2022)

In places with rich ophidian faunas, dozens of antivenins may therefore need to be kept to hand. (How to simplify the treatment of snake bites, The Economist, January 2021)

We cannot ask Bierce, but the body of his work demonstrates some- thing of an obsession with snakes and ophidian metaphors. (Roth, Russell, Ambrose Bierce's 'Detestable Creature.', Western American Literature, Fall 1974)

But their aspect, their - their catness was more submerged by their outward appearance, for they ranged from the semi-human form of the little demon of the brook to ophidian-headed things as heavy and lithe as a panther. And they fought with a ferocity and intelligence that was itself abnormal. (Stanley G Weinbaum, Proteus Island)

Swaying in a slow, lethal, hypnotic rhythm, with a deep and solemn sibilation, the Voorqual dominated the city of Lospar and the world Lophai. Below, on the tiers of the pyramid, the thronged ophidian plants kept time to this rhythm in their tossing and hissing. (Clark Ashton Smith, The Demon of the Flower)

His glance, as he rested it on Bryce now, was baleful, ophidian. (Peter B Kyne, The Valley of the Giants)

Origin:
1883, 'having the nature or character of snakes or serpents,' from Greek ophidion, diminutive of ophis 'serpent'. Earlier in zoology, 'belonging to the order Ophidia' (comprising snakes, serpents), 1819. As a noun, 'reptile of the order Ophidia,' from 1819. (Online Etymology Dictionary)

Comments

[amaebi]

I love this word. Perhaps because it's so close to "obsidian," it makes me think of stone-yet-living snakes.

[full_metal_ox]

Not only that, but it rhymes with “viridian”, another archetypal reptile color (and rhymes are a scarce and precious commodity in English, let alone polysyllabic rhymes.)

[sallymn]

True! I hadn't thought of the rhymes...

[sallymn]

I like that thought... we need more stories about them :)