anaconda
noun/ˌænəˈkɒndə/
/ˌænəˈkɑːndə/
- a large South American snake of the boa family, that wraps itself tightly around other animals to kill them before eating themTopics Animalsc2Word Originmid 18th cent. (originally denoting a kind of Sri Lankan snake): unexplained alteration of Latin anacandaia ‘python’, from Sinhalese henakaňdayā ‘whip snake’, from hena ‘lightning’ + kaňda ‘stem’.
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anaconda