In Sanskrit, a nāgá (नाग) is a cobra, the Indian cobra (Naja naja). A synonym for nāgá is phaṇin (फणिन्). There are several words for "snake" in general, and one of the very commonly used ones is sarpá (सर्प). Sometimes the word nāgá is also used generically to mean "snake".[2][2] The word is cognate with English 'snake', Germanic: *snēk-a-, Proto-IE: *(s)nēg-o-.[3]