draconcopedes

English

Etymology

From Medieval Latin dracontopedis, draconcopedis, from Ancient Greek δράκων (drákōn, “serpent”) +‎ πούς (poús, “foot, leg”).

Noun

draconcopedes (plural draconcopedes)

1. (mediaeval folklore) A legendary being with a human head, and sometimes also human arms and a torso, and the rest of the body of a snake.
   • 1855 September 22, “Supernatural Zoology”, in Household Words, volume 12, page 188:

     For old acquaintance-sake we have stopped some little time with the dragon, before passing on to the Draconcopedes. This is the serpent with a woman’s head that tempted Eve.

   • 2009, Peter Metevelis, Japanese Mythology and the Primeval World: A Comparative Symbolic Approach, →ISBN, page 39:

     In some European Garden of Eden tales, the woman and the serpent are hybridized into a creature referred to as a draconcopedes.

   • 2016, Theresa Bane, “Draconcopedes”, in Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore, →ISBN, page 106:

     In medieval European folklore the draconcopedes were a species of serpent said to have the body of a snake with the face and breasts of a woman […]