Standard Lemma guide

rattlesnake

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈɹæt.əlˌsneɪk/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -eɪk
  • CMU ARPABET: R AE1 T AH0 L S N EY2 K Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various venomous American snakes, of genera Crotalus and Sistrurus, having a rattle at the end of its tail.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rattler

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

pit viper with horny segments at the end of the tail that rattle when shaken

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: rattler

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: pit viper

Narrower terms: diamondback, diamondback rattlesnake, Crotalus adamanteus, timber rattlesnake, banded rattlesnake, Crotalus horridus horridus, prairie rattlesnake, prairie rattler, Western rattlesnake, Crotalus viridis, sidewinder, horned rattlesnake, Crotalus cerastes, Western diamondback, Western diamondback rattlesnake, Crotalus atrox, rock rattlesnake, Crotalus lepidus, tiger rattlesnake, Crotalus tigris, Mojave rattlesnake, Crotalus scutulatus, speckled rattlesnake, Crotalus mitchellii, massasauga, massasauga rattler, Sistrurus catenatus, ground rattler, Sistrurus miliaris

History

Etymology

From rattle + snake.

Across languages

Translations

71 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: أَفْعًى مُجَلْجِلَة (ʔafʕan mujaljila) — venomous snake
  • Basque: kriskitin-suge — venomous snake
  • Bulgarian: гърмяща змия (gǎrmjašta zmija) — venomous snake
  • Catalan: serp de cascavell — venomous snake
  • Cherokee: ᎤᏦᎾᏘ (utsonati) — venomous snake
  • Chinese Cantonese: 響尾蛇 /响尾蛇 (hoeng2 mei5 se4) — venomous snake
  • Chinese Mandarin: 響尾蛇 /响尾蛇 (xiǎngwěishé) — venomous snake
  • Choctaw: shintullo — venomous snake
  • Czech: chřestýš — venomous snake
  • Danish: klapperslange — venomous snake
  • Dutch: ratelslang — venomous snake
  • Esperanto: krotalo — venomous snake
  • Esperanto: sonserpento — venomous snake
  • Finnish: kalkkarokäärme — venomous snake
  • French: crotale — venomous snake
  • French: serpent à sonnettes — venomous snake
  • Galician: serpe de cascabel — venomous snake
  • Georgian: ჩხრიალა გველი (čxriala gveli) — venomous snake
  • German: Klapperschlange — venomous snake
  • Greek: κροταλίας (krotalías) — venomous snake
  • Hindi: रैटल स्नेक (raiṭal snek) — venomous snake
  • Hungarian: csörgőkígyó — venomous snake
  • Icelandic: skröltormur — venomous snake
  • Ido: krotalo — venomous snake
  • Irish: nathair shligreach — venomous snake
  • Irish: péist ghliogair — venomous snake
  • Italian: crotalo — venomous snake
  • Italian: serpente a sonagli — venomous snake
  • Japanese: ガラガラ蛇 (garagarahebi) — venomous snake
  • Japanese: ガラガラヘビ (garagarahebi) — venomous snake
  • Karok: tapas'ápsuun — venomous snake
  • Klamath-Modoc: qɁis — venomous snake
  • Korean: 방울뱀 (bang'ulbaem) — venomous snake
  • Latin: quatiator — venomous snake
  • Latvian: klaburčūska — venomous snake
  • Lithuanian: barškuolė — venomous snake
  • Macedonian: ѕвечарка (dzvečarka) — venomous snake
  • Malay: ular orok-orok — venomous snake
  • Central Huasteca Nahuatl: kuechkoatl — venomous snake
  • Central Nahuatl: tepocolcoatl — venomous snake
  • Classical Nahuatl: teuctlacozauhqui — venomous snake
  • Western Huasteca Nahuatl: kuejkuech — venomous snake
  • Nanticoke: eeh!seekq — venomous snake
  • Navajo: tłʼiish áníní — venomous snake
  • Navajo: naʼashǫ́ʼii ánínígíí — venomous snake
  • Norwegian Bokmål: klapperslange — venomous snake
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: klapperorm — venomous snake
  • Ojibwe: zhiishiigwe — venomous snake
  • Plautdietsch: Klaupaschlang — venomous snake
  • Polish: grzechotnik — venomous snake
  • Portuguese: cascavel — venomous snake
  • Romanian: șarpe cu clopoței — venomous snake
  • Russian: грему́чая змея́ (gremúčaja zmejá) — venomous snake
  • Russian: грему́чник (gremúčnik) — venomous snake
  • Serbo-Croatian: звечарка — venomous snake
  • Serbo-Croatian: zvečarka — venomous snake
  • Serbo-Croatian: čegrtuša — venomous snake
  • Silesian: szczyrkowa — venomous snake
  • Slovak: štrkáč — venomous snake
  • Slovene: klopotača — venomous snake
  • Spanish: serpiente de cascabel — venomous snake
  • Spanish: cascabel — venomous snake
  • Swedish: skallerorm — venomous snake
  • Taos: pę̀cuʼúna — venomous snake
  • Turkish: çıngıraklı yılan — venomous snake
  • Ukrainian: гриму́ча змі́я (hrymúča zmíja) — venomous snake
  • Ukrainian: гриму́чник (hrymúčnyk) — venomous snake
  • Unami: shixikwe — venomous snake
  • Vietnamese: rắn chuông — venomous snake
  • Vietnamese: rắn đuôi chuông — venomous snake
  • Welsh: neidr rhuglo — venomous snake
Real reading context

rattlesnake in complete knowledge articles