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Glite Dictionary
🦎 A legless lizard 🪱 A limbless amphibian
blindworm

blindworm

1 9.9
A small legless lizard with tiny eyes found in Europe under leaves
  • noun
  • /ˈblaɪndwɜːm/
  • UK
translation icon : lución
  • During our nature walk, we came across a blindworm hiding under a rock in the garden.

Examples

  • The gardener spotted a blindworm slithering through the damp soil in search of food.

  • Children are often amazed to see a blindworm, mistaking it for a snake due to its smooth, legless body.

  • On the other hand, there are many lizards and blindworms.

    Fiction book (1998)

Synonyms

Anguis fragilis
vsblindworm
  • Specialized
9.9

A small legless lizard that looks like a snake

is the informal popular name tied to a folk belief of blindness
slowworm
vsblindworm
  • UK
9.9

A small lizard without legs that looks like a snake

is associated with a folk belief that it is blind rather than a snake

Surface Forms

blindworm singular
blindworms plural

Morphology

blindworm = blind + worm (semi-transparent) = blind + worm

The compound 'blind' + 'worm' straightforwardly describes a small legless creature thought to be blind, but 'worm' here refers to a legless lizard rather than a true worm.

Etymology

Blindworm comes from blind ('not able to see') and worm (from old wyrm, 'worm' or 'snake'), because people once thought the animal was blind and worm-like. So the name stayed for the slow, legless European lizard even though it is actually a lizard with very small eyes.