eldertongue

Modern English → Old English

Old English word for snake

5 headwords match “snake”, ranked by the scoring in the data pipeline. The 5 strongest follow; snaca ranks first.

  1. 1

    snaca

    score 24

    noun, masculine · weak · 4 inflected forms

    snake — snake

    • opens the headword's definition
    • listed as an English descendant
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular snaca
    genitive singular snacan
    dative singular snacan
    accusative singular snacan
    nominative plural snacan
    genitive plural snacena
  2. 2

    nædre

    score 15

    noun, feminine · weak n-stem · 4 inflected forms

    snake — snake

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular nǣdre
    genitive singular nǣdran
    dative singular nǣdran
    accusative singular nǣdran
    nominative plural nǣdran
    genitive plural nǣdrena
  3. 3

    wyrmgalere

    score 13

    noun, masculine · strong ja-stem · 5 inflected forms

    snake — snake charmer

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular wyrmgalere
    genitive singular wyrmgaleres
    dative singular wyrmgalere
    accusative singular wyrmgalere
    nominative plural wyrmgaleras
    genitive plural wyrmgalera
  4. 4

    wyrm

    score 6

    noun, masculine · strong i-stem · 6 inflected forms

    snake — any crawling animal, especially

    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular wyrm
    genitive singular wyrmes
    dative singular wyrme
    accusative singular wyrm
    nominative plural wyrmas
    genitive plural wyrma
  5. 5

    wyrmcynn

    score 6

    noun, neuter · strong a-stem · 5 inflected forms

    snake — reptiles, snakes

    • appears in the definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular wyrmcynn
    genitive singular wyrmcynnes
    dative singular wyrmcynne
    accusative singular wyrmcynn
    nominative plural wyrmcynn
    genitive plural wyrmcynna

How this ranking works

Scores are computed once, when the site is built, from the Wiktionary data. Every headword whose definitions mention “snake” gets the points below; the candidates are then sorted by total. The score is shown on each entry above so the order can be checked rather than trusted.

The English word opens the headword's definition+10
It appears later in the first definition+6
It appears in any definition+3
It is in the headword's links+2
It is listed as an English descendant (etymological evidence)+9
The headword has an inflection table+3
Part of speech is a proper noun−5
Part of speech is a verb (-ian derivations are noisy)−3
The headword is an alternative form−6
The first definition is longer than three words−2

A candidate has to be a real headword with its own entry: inflected forms and grammatical terminology (genitive, nominative, preterite, …) never appear here.

Not one of these?

The match may be a different sense of “snake”, or an inflected form rather than a headword. Look up the form directly — the entry page marks the grammatical case.

Candidates derived from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Each entry links to its source page. · CC BY-SA 4.0 and attribution · CC BY-SA 4.0