Standard Lemma guide

reptile

adj · noun · 9 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛp.taɪl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛp.tɑj(ə)l/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈɹɛp.taɪl/
  • General-American: /ˈɹɛp.taɪəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈɹep.tɑel/
  • Australian, New-Zealand: /ˈɹep.tɑe.əl/
  • Scotland: /ˈɾɛp.tʌɪl/
  • Wales: /ˈɾɛp.taɪl/
  • rhymes with -aɪl
  • CMU ARPABET: R EH1 P T AY0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Creeping; moving on the belly, or by means of small and short legs.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Grovelling; low; vulgar.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Examples

  • a reptile race or crew reptile vices

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A (typically scaly and egg-laying) cold-blooded vertebrate tetrapod animal, of the class Reptilia (excluding birds), such as a lizard, turtle, snake, crocodile, alligator, etc.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Any member of the class Reptilia, including birds.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: biology, natural-sciences, zoology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

Any creeping or crawling animal, one that moves along close to the ground on its belly or on short legs, such as a lizard, snake, salamander, frog, toad, or scorpion.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

noun

Meaning 6

An animal belonging to either the class Reptilia or the class Amphibia.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: herptile, herp

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

An ectothermic, scaly animal, whether sauropsid or synapsid, of the clade Amniota.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, proscribed

Examples

  • Prior to the 1990s, the non-mammalian synapsids were considered true reptiles.
  • mammal-like reptile

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

8

noun

Meaning 8

An abject, grovelling, loathsome or repulsive person.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: dated, figuratively

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

9

noun

Meaning 9

any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia including tortoises, turtles, snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and extinct forms

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: reptilian

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: vertebrate, craniate

Narrower terms: anapsid, anapsid reptile, diapsid, diapsid reptile, Diapsida, subclass Diapsida, synapsid, synapsid reptile

History

Etymology

From Middle English reptil, from Old French reptile, from Late Latin rēptile, neuter of reptilis (“creeping”), from Latin rēpō (“to creep”), from Proto-Indo-European *rep- (“to creep, slink”) (Pokorny; Watkins, 1969).

Across languages

Translations

190 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Abkhaz: аҳәаза́қәа (aḥwazákwa) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Afar: ali — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Afrikaans: reptiel — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Albanian: rrëshqanor — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Arabic: زَحَّافَة (zaḥḥāfa) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Armenian: սողուն (soġun) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Armenian: զեռուն (zeṙun) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Asturian: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Azerbaijani: sürünən — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Bashkir: һөйрәлеүсе (höyrəlewse) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Basque: narrasti — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: includes reptiles — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: amphibians — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: molluscs — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: etc. — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: рэпты́лія (reptýlija) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: паўзу́н (pawzún) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Belarusian: гад (had) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Bengali: সরীসৃপ (śorisrip) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Bengali: রেপ্তাইল (reptail) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Breton: stlejvil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Bulgarian: влечу́го (vlečúgo) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Bulgarian: гад (gad) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Burmese: တွားသွားကောင် (twa:swa:kaung) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Buryat: мүлхигшэ (mülxigše) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Carpathian Rusyn: плаз (plaz) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Catalan: rèptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Chinese Cantonese: 爬蟲 /爬虫 (paa4 cung4) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Chinese Cantonese: 爬蟲類 /爬虫类 (paa4 cung4 leoi6) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Chinese: 爬蟲 /爬虫 (pâ-thiông) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 爬蟲 /爬虫 (páchóng) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 爬行類 /爬行类 (páxínglèi) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Chinese Mandarin: 爬蟲類 /爬虫类 (páchónglèi) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Corsican: rettile — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Crimean Tatar: sürüngen — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Czech: plaz — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Danish: krybdyr — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Danish: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Dutch: reptiel — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Esperanto: reptilio — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Estonian: roomaja — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Estonian: reptiil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Faroese: skriðdýr — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Faroese: skriðdjór — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Faroese: reptilla — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Finnish: matelija — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Finnish: reptiili — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • French: reptile — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • West-Frisian: reptyl — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • West-Frisian: krûpdier — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Galician: réptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Georgian: ქვეწარმავალი (kvec̣armavali) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • German: Kriechtier — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • German: Reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • German: Wurm — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Greek: ερπετό (erpetó) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ancient Greek: ἑρπετόν (herpetón) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Haitian Creole: rèptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Hawaiian: moʻo — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Hawaiian: lepekile — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Hebrew: זוֹחֵל (zokhél) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Hindi: सर्पणशील (sarpaṇśīl) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Hindi: सरीसृप (sarīsŕp) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Hungarian: hüllő — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Icelandic: skriðdýr — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Icelandic: réptíll — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ido: reptero — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Indonesian: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Indonesian: binatang melata — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Interlingua: reptile — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Irish: reiptíl — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Italian: reptilia — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Italian: rettile — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Japanese: 爬虫 (hachū) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Japanese: 爬虫類 (hachūrui) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Javanese: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Old Javanese: sarisepa — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Kannada: ಸರೀಸೃಪ (sarīsṛpa) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Kashmiri: سَریسۄرَپھ (sarēsọraph) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Kazakh: бауырымен жорғалаушы (bauyrymen jorğalauşy) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Kazakh: рептилия (reptiliä) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Khmer: ឧរង្គសត្វ (ʼurɑngkĕəʼsat) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Khmer: ល្មូន (lmuun) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Korean: 파충류 (pachungnyu) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Korean: 파충 (pachung) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Northern Kurdish: xişok — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Northern Kurdish: reptîl — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Kyrgyz: рептилия (reptiliya) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Kyrgyz: сойлоочу (soyloocu) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Lao: ສັດເລືອຄານ (sat lư̄a khān) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Latin: reptilia — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Latvian: rāpulis — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Latvian: reptils — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Limburgish: reptiele — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Lithuanian: roplys — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Lithuanian: reptilas — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Low German: Krüüpdeer — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Low German: Kruupdeer — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Luxembourgish: Reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Macedonian: влекач (vlekač) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Macedonian: влечуга (vlečuga) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Malay: reptilia — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Malay: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Malay: binatang reptilia — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Malay: haiwan reptilia — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Malayalam: ഉരഗം (uragaṁ) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Maltese: rettili — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Marathi: सरपटणारा प्राणी (sarpaṭṇārā prāṇī) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Marathi: सरीसृप (sarīsŕp) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Mon: မၟာ — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Mongolian: хэвлээр явагч (xevleer javagč) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Navajo: naaldlooshii dadichʼízhii — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Neapolitan: rettile — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Norwegian Bokmål: krypdyr — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Norwegian Bokmål: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: krypdyr — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Occitan: reptilia — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Church Slavic: гадъ (gadŭ) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Old East Slavic: гадъ (gadŭ) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Old English: slincend — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ossetian: хилӕгой (xilægoj) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Pannonian Rusyn: шмикач (šmikač) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Dari: خَزَنْدَه (xazanda) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Iranian Persian: خَزَنْدِه (xazande) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Polish: gad — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Portuguese: réptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Punjabi: ਭੁਜੰਗੀ (bhujaṅgī) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Quechua: suchuq — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Romanian: reptilă — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Romansh: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: includes reptiles — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: amphibians — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: molluscs — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: etc. — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: пресмыка́ющееся (presmykájuščejesja) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: репти́лия (reptílija) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Russian: гад (gad) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Samogitian: ruoplē — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Samogitian: reptils — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Sanskrit: सरीसृप (sarīsṛpa) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Scottish Gaelic: snàigean — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Scottish Gaelic: pèist — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: гма̑з — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: гми̏завац — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: рѐптӣл — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: gmȃz — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: gmȉzavac — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Serbo-Croatian: rèptīl — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Sicilian: rettili — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Slovak: plaz — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Slovene: plazílec — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Upper Sorbian: łažaki — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Spanish: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Sundanese: réptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Swahili: reptaili — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Swedish: kräldjur — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Swedish: reptil — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tagalog: bayabag — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tagalog: reptilya — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tajik: рептилия (reptiliya) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tajik: хазанда (xazanda) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tamil: ஊர்வன (ūrvaṉa) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tatar: сөйрәлүче (söyrälüçe) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Telugu: సరీసృపం (sarīsr̥paṁ) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Thai: สัตว์เลื้อยคลาน (sàt-lʉ́ai-klaan) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Turkish: sürüngen — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Turkmen: süýreniji — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Tuvan: соястаар (soyastaar) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: includes reptiles — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: amphibians — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: molluscs — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: etc. — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: плазу́н (plazún) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: репти́лія (reptýlija) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Ukrainian: гад (had) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Urdu: خَزَنْدَہ (xazanda) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Uyghur: ئۆمىلىگۈچى ھايۋان (ömiligüchi haywan) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Uzbek: reptiliya — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Vietnamese: động vật bò sát — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Vietnamese: loài bò sát — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Vietnamese: bò sát — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Volapük: räptul — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Welsh: ymlusgiad — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Yiddish: רעפּטיליע (reptilye) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Yiddish: שרץ (sherets) — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Zazaki: xuzande — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Zazaki: reptiliya — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Zazaki: kasnend — a cold-blooded vertebrate
  • Zazaki: bulinger — a cold-blooded vertebrate