the.com/adder
Britain's only venomous snake, too shy to bother anyone who isn't barefoot and unlucky.
means A small venomous snake (a viper), most famously the only poisonous snake native to Britain.
from A wonderful accident of mishearing. In Old English the word was 'nædre,' meaning serpent — related to other Germanic snake-words and a distant cousin of words across the old languages. Over time 'a nadder' was misheard as 'an adder,' and the snake quietly lost its initial N to the word in front of it. The same slippery process happened in reverse elsewhere, gifting English an 'a newt' that was once 'an ewt,' and a 'nickname' that began as 'an eke-name.'
- bite stats
- Last UK death was over 20 years ago
- zigzag mark
- Dark diamond stripe runs down its spine
- cold blood
- Hibernates in groups through British winters
- live birth
- Bears young instead of laying eggs
- namesake
- Old machines and math operations stole the name
vipera berus — venomous snake found across europe, only venomous snake in britain
puff adder — bitis arietans, deadly african viper responsible for more human deaths than any other snake
death adder — acanthophis, australian snake with neurotoxic venom and fastest strike of any venomous snake