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Glite Dictionary
black-headed snake

black-headed snake

9.1
A small ground snake with a black head that hides under rocks or leaves
  • noun
  • US
translation icon : serpiente de cabeza negra
  • The black-headed snake is rarely seen because it spends much of its time under rocks or leaf litter.

Examples

  • Unlike venomous species, the black-headed snake poses no threat to humans.

  • Many black-headed snakes live in the central United States.

  • Herpetologists were excited to discover a colony of black-headed snakes in the region.

  • The black-headed snake is often hidden in the grass.

  • Herpetologists were excited to discover a colony of black-headed snakes in the region.

  • The black-headed snake is rarely seen because it spends much of its time under rocks or leaf litter.

  • Unlike venomous species, the black-headed snake poses no threat to humans.

Synonyms

Tantilla
vsblack-headed snake
  • Specialized
9.9

A small harmless snake with a black head that lives in the Americas

is the common name for similar small secretive ground-dwelling snakes

Surface Forms

black-headed snake singular
black-headed snakes plural

Morphology

black-headed + snake

This is a straightforward descriptive compound: 'black-headed' (= having a black head) + 'snake' yields ‘a snake with a black-colored head.’ The meaning is directly compositional and follows common color + noun compounding patterns cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily understand it.

Etymology

Black-headed snake gets its name from the animal's most obvious part: a dark, black head that often shows first when the snake peeks out from under leaves. Because people used the visible black head to tell it apart from other snakes, the name now means 'a small, shy snake that lives on the ground'.