ophite

1 of 2

noun (1)

-fīt

plural -s

: any of various usually green and often mottled or blotched rocks (as a serpentine or serpentine marble)

Ophite

2 of 2

noun (2)

"

plural -s

: a member of a Gnostic sect or group of sects including the Naassenes and Perates that revered the serpent as the symbol of the hidden divine wisdom and as having befriended Adam and Eve by persuading them to eat of the tree of knowledge

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Latin, from Greek ophitēs (lithos), literally, serpentine stone, from ophitēs like a snake, from ophis

Noun (2)

Late Latin Ophitae, plural, from Late Greek Ophitai, plural, from Greek ophis snake + -itae, plural of -ites -ite

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