1. A medical term referring to the slow advancement of some kind of creeping skin injury or disease; such as, leprosy, skin lesions (breaks in the skin), or any condition that involves some form of abnormal skin tissue: Jaden had a skin ailment which his dermatologist, Dr. Crawley, diagnosed as "angioma serpiginosum" or a rare dysplasia (abnormal development) of small blood vessels marked by a serpiginous progression to other parts of his body.

Adam had a serpiginous or creeping ulcer which was slowly extending from one area of his skin while healing in another region.

2. Etymology: from Latin serpigo, setrpiginis; from Latin serpere, "to creep, a creeping" + -ous, "full of, abounding in".