python

python — noun

1. A large non-venomous snake native to tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Austr

1.nounB1
Definition

A large non-venomous snake native to tropical regions of Asia, Africa, and Australia. It kills its prey — usually small-to-medium mammals and birds — by coiling its body around the animal and squeezing until suffocation, then swallowing the prey whole. Some species grow over 6 metres long.

Example

On a night safari, Indra spotted a python coiled around a branch above the trail.

collocation: python coiled around [something]

A python can unhinge its jaw to swallow animals much wider than its own head.

anatomical description: unhinge its jaw

Common collocations
  • python constricts
  • python coils
  • python swallows
  • python strikes
  • python slithers
  • large python
  • reticulated python
  • Burmese python
  • python skin
  • python enclosure
  • python habitat
  • python species
Synonyms
  • constrictor

    A broader term for any snake that kills by squeezing; includes pythons, boas, and anacondas.

  • boa

    A different family (Boidae) that resembles pythons but gives live birth and lacks premaxillary teeth.

  • serpent

    A formal or literary word for any large snake; not specific to constrictors.

Grammar Patterns

a/the python

pythons (plural)

Usage Note

Pythons are non-venomous — they kill by constriction, not by venom. The word is also used as the name of a programming language (a proper noun), but that meaning functions as a separate lexical item.

Common Mistakes

The python poisoned its victim with venom.
The python killed its prey by constriction, squeezing until the animal could not breathe.
pythons are non-venomous constrictors, not venomous snakes.
All large snakes are pythons.
Boas and anacondas are also large constricting snakes, but they belong to a different biological family than pythons.
boas give live birth; pythons lay eggs.

Word family

  • pythonine
    adjectiveC2

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Python, constrictor, and boa are often confused because all three refer to large snakes that kill by squeezing. A python (family Pythonidae) is native to the Old World tropics — Asia, Africa, and Australia — and lays eggs. A constrictor is a broader functional term: any snake that kills by wrapping and squeezing, so all pythons and boas are constrictors, but the word is not a taxonomic group. Boas (family Boidae) are found mainly in the Americas and give birth to live young. In everyday language, people may call any large squeezing snake a 'python' or 'boa', but biologists keep the distinction clear. For example: 'The green anaconda is a boa, not a python, even though both are large constrictors.'

python ↗constrictorboa ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Prepositions

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

The word 'python' entered English from Latin 'Python', which came from the Greek 'Πύθων' (Pythōn). In Greek mythology, Python was the name of a monstrous serpent-dragon that guarded the oracle at Delphi. The god Apollo killed Python and took over the oracle. Naturalists in the 18th and 19th centuries adopted the legendary name to classify the large constricting snakes they encountered in tropical regions, giving the word its modern zoological meaning.