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co·bra

(kōbrə)

1. Any of various venomous elapid snakes, especially of the genus Naja, that are native to Asia and Africa and are capable of expanding the skin of the neck to form a flattened hood.

2. Leather made from the skin of one of these snakes.

[Short for Portuguese cobra (de capelo), snake (with a hood) : cobra, snake (from Old Portuguese coobra, from Vulgar Latin *colobra, variant of Latin colubra, of unknown origin) + de, of + capelo, hood.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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