Blindworm

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A smooth, limbless reptile resembling a snake, primarily located in Europe and known for its burrowing habits
2. An elongated, scale-covered lizard that inhabits European environments and is frequently confused with snakes due to its shape
3. A reptile species native to Europe characterized by a slender, elongated body without legs, often mistaken for snakes

Etymology: The blindworm is a legless lizard, not a worm or a snake, and its name records a mistaken belief about its eyes. Its tiny eyes are indeed poorly developed, and the name "blind worm" was coined in Middle English to describe the animal as a sightless worm. The first element, "blind," is the ordinary adjective meaning without sight, while "worm" was used loosely in older English for any small, slender, limbless creature, including snakes and grubs, which explains why a lizard ended up with this name. The same naming logic appears in Swedish, where the cognate "blindorm" and the related "blindödla" (blind lizard) show that the idea of a sightless legless reptile was shared across the Germanic languages. Each name pairs a word for lack of sight with a word for a small, slithering creature, and the naming is a folk observation rather than a scientific one.

Synonyms: slowworm