Centipede
/ˈsɛn.tɪ.piːd/noun
A many-legged arthropod with one pair of legs on each body segment.
Did you know?The name comes from Latin scientific style: centi- (“hundred”) + pes/pedis (“foot”), a classic example of how scholars turned a creepy creature into a precise label.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*ped-
“foot”
Latin
Latin
pes, pedis
“foot”
Latin
Latin
centum
“hundred”
18th Century
New Latin
centipeda
“a hundred-footed creature”
Modern English
English
centipede
“a many-legged arthropod”