reptile

UK: /ˈrɛptaɪl/ US: /ˈrɛptɪl, -taɪl/ ,(rep′til, -tīl)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

rep•tile /ˈrɛptɪl, -taɪl/   n. [countable]

1. Reptiles any air-breathing animal having a backbone, a heart with three chambers, a completely bony skeleton, and a covering of dry scales or horny plates:
   Reptiles include snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles.

rep•til•i•an /rɛpˈtɪliən/  adj. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

rep•tile  (rep′til, -tīl), n. 

1. Reptiles any cold-blooded vertebrate of the class Reptilia, comprising the turtles, snakes, lizards, crocodilians, amphisbaenians, tuatara, and various extinct members including the dinosaurs.
2. (loosely) any of various animals that crawl or creep.
3. a groveling, mean, or despicable person.

adj. 

4. Reptiles of or resembling a reptile; creeping or crawling.
5. groveling, mean, or despicable.

• Late Latin rēptile, noun, nominal use of neuter of rēptilis creeping, equivalent. to Latin rēpt(us) (past participle of rēpere to creep) + -ilis -ile
• Middle English reptil 1350–1400

rep′tile•like′, adj. 
rep•ti•loid  (rep′tl oid′), adj. 

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

reptile / ˈrɛptaɪl/ noun

1. any of the cold-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Reptilia, characterized by lungs, an outer covering of horny scales or plates, and young produced in amniotic eggs. The class today includes the tortoises, turtles, snakes, lizards, and crocodiles; in Mesozoic times it was the dominant group, containing the dinosaurs and related forms
2. a grovelling insignificant person: you miserable little reptile!

adjective

1. creeping, crawling, or squirming
2. grovelling or insignificant; mean; contemptible

Etymology: 14th Century: from Late Latin reptilis creeping, from Latin rēpere to crawl