CS Knowledge Base

From serpente + -ar.

• Hyphenation: ser‧pen‧te‧ar

serpentear (first-person singular present serpenteio, first-person singular preterite serpenteei, past participle serpenteado)

1. (intransitive) to snake (move in a winding path)
2. (intransitive) to meander (have a winding course)

• “serpentear”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “serpentear”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /seɾpenteˈaɾ/ [seɾ.pẽn̪.t̪eˈaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: ser‧pen‧te‧ar

serpentear (first-person singular present serpenteo, first-person singular preterite serpenteé, past participle serpenteado)

1. (intransitive) to wind; to meander; to go like a serpent

   Synonym: culebrear

2. (intransitive) to wriggle

   Synonym: culebrear

• “serpentear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025