Etymology

boa

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Today it means: Any of a group of large American snakes, of the genus Boa, subfamily Boinae, or family Boidae, including the boa constrictor and the emperor boa of Mexico. Full definition →

Middle English boa ← Latin boa
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The story

  1. Latin · derived fromboa“large snake”
  2. Middle English · inherited fromboa
  3. English todayboa

From Middle English boa, from Latin boa (“large snake”), a species of serpent mentioned in Pliny's Naturalis Historia (Natural History). The scarf was named attributively, for its resemblance to the snake when worn.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.