krait

Alternative forms

• karait

Etymology

Borrowed from Hindi करैत (karait).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kɹaɪt/

Noun

krait (plural kraits)

1. Any of several brightly-coloured, venomous snakes, of the genus Bungarus, of southeast Asia.
   • 2007, A. Philip Parham, Feeling Free, page 190,

     "Now, if you run into one of these kraits, you better NOT run away else you're a goner. It'll catch you for sure and you will die in your tracks. […] "

   • 2009, Kate Jackson, Mean and Lowly Things: Snakes, Science, and Survival in the Congo, page 295,

     Very much in my thoughts is Joe Slowinski, a herpetologist killed a few years earlier by a misidentified juvenile krait, a snake so small that he couldn't tell if the fang had punctured the skin.

   • 2011, Lisa Kemmerer, Animals and World Religions, page 71,

     India has a healthy share of poisonous snakes, including kraits, cobras, and two species of vipers, yet Hindu traditions are overwhelmingly snake-friendly.

Anagrams

• IARTK, iktar, kirat, takir, traik