millipede (W3)

• Barrow Island millipede
• black Portuguese millipede
• Camerons cave millipede
• flat brown millipede
• flatbacked garden millipede
• millipede
• pincushion millipedes
• Portuguese millipede
• rusty millipede
• white millipede

"millipede", noun

Any of many elongated arthropods, of the class Diplopoda, with cylindrical bodies that have two pairs of legs for each one of their 20 to 100 or more body segments.

Translations:

• Dutch: "miljoenpoot"
• French: "diplopode jule"
• German: "Tausendfüßler"
• Spanish: "cienpies" category: Arthropods

Etymology: "milli-", "thousand", + "pede", "foot"

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• 1 dialog = 2 monologs
• 5 dialogs = 1 decalog
• 2 monograms = 1 diagram
• 8 nickels = 2 paradigms
• 2 wharves = 1 paradox
• 1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
• 1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin
• 1 million billion picolos = 1 gigolo
• 10 rations = 1 decoration
• 100 rations = 1 C-ration
• 10 millipedes = 1 centipede
• 3 1/3 tridents = 1 decadent
• 10 cards = 1 decacards
• 1000 grams of wet socks = 1 literhosen
• One acre = 43,560 square feet = a lotsa toes

From the prodigious collection of Paul Ogden
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The Mystery of the Headless Millipedes

Every summer, hundreds of millipedes are murdered on one small Massachusetts island.
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A glowing millipede.

Three Rivers, California

Glowing Millipedes of Sequoia National Park

These millipedes glow not out of attraction but as a not-too-subtle warning

Story Results for millipede

• STORY - The Mystery of the Headless Millipedes - Every summer, hundreds of millipedes are murdered on one small Massachusetts island. - MAY 26, 2023
• STORY - What Happens to Caves When Wildfires Scorch the Surface? - Ecologists are finding unexpected changes in the delicate ecosystems below Lava Beds National Monument. - OCTOBER 26, 2021
• STORY - What It’s Like to Be The Namesake of a Deep-Sea Worm - We asked Ivvet Modinou about the underwater creature that shares her name: P. modinouae. - JUNE 22, 2020
• STORY - Found: A 99-Million-Year-Old Millipede, Perfectly Preserved in Amber - The newly described species has a five-unit compound eye and an unbristled butt. - MAY 2, 2019
• STORY - Up Close With the First and Only Millipede Lab in the United States - They got legs, and they know how to use them. - JANUARY 31, 2018
• STORY - Found: A Millipede With 6 Colorways and a Cyanide Coating - A bright, shining example of "predator education." - DECEMBER 5, 2017
• STORY - Birds Rub Ants on Themselves, and No One Knows Exactly Why - It's called "anting," and it is weird. - NOVEMBER 21, 2017
• STORY - You Probably Share Your Home With at Least 100 Kinds of Bugs - And cleaning more often won't change a darned thing. - NOVEMBER 10, 2017
• STORY - The Most Interesting Bugs in the World - Could knowing about cool insects help get more Americans out into nature? These two social scientists think so. - AUGUST 30, 2017
• STORY - Found: A Drone That Looks Like a Bird Crash-Landed in Somalia - Presumably, it's a spy drone. - JULY 12, 2016
• STORY - How to Choose the Pet Bug That's Right for You - Consider the millipede. - JUNE 21, 2016
• STORY - Found: A Forgotten Copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio - It was sitting in a library in a Scottish mansion. - APRIL 7, 2016
• STORY - Lemurs Get High on Their Millipede Supply - JANUARY 29, 2016

"millipede", NOUN: Any of various crawling herbivorous "myriapods" of the class "Diplopoda", found worldwide and having a cylindrical segmented body with two pairs of legs attached to all segments except for the first four in the thoracic region. Also called "diplopod".

ETYMOLOGY: Latin "milipeda", a kind of insect: "mlle" = "thousand"; see "gheslo-" in Appendix I + "pes", "ped-" = "foot"; see "ped-" in Appendix I.

"*gheslo-"

DEFINITION: Seen by some as a base for words meaning "thousand". Oldest form "*gheslo-", becoming "*gheslo-" in centum languages.

1. Suffixed form "*ghesl-yo-". "chiliad", "kilo-", from Greek "khilioi" = "thousand".

Compound "*smi-gheslo-" ("*smi-", one; see "sem-" 1). Hazara, from Old Iranian "*hazahram" = "thousand".

2. "mil1", "mile", "millenary", "millesimal", "milli-", "milliary", "millime", "million"; "milfoil", "millefleur", "millennium", "millepore", "millipede", "per mil", from Latin "mille" = "thousand", which has been analyzed as "*smi-" = "one" + a form "*ghsli-", but is of obscure origin. (Pokorny "ghéslo-" 446.)

• Almond-scented Millipede (6)
• Bohol Giant Forest Millipede (1)
• Caseyid Millipede (1)
• Chocolate Millipede (2)
• Cyanide Millipede (7)
• Fire Millipede (1)
• Flat-backed Millipede (5)
• Giant Fire Millipede (2)
• Giant Millipede (7)
• Keeled Millipede (2)
• Micropolydesmid Millipede (1)
• Millipede (51)
• Millipede eggs (1)
• Millipedes (1)
• Millipèdes (1)
• Nearctodesmid Millipede (1)
• Olympic Peninsula Millipede (3)
• Orange Millipede (2)
• Pacific Forest Millipede (1)
• Pill Millipede (3)
• Polydesmid Millipede (3)
• Polyzonid Millipede (1)
• Portuguese Millipede (1)
• Python Millipede (1)
• Red-legged Millipede (1)
• Rhiscosomidid Millipede (1)
• Striariid Millipede (3)
• Tractor Millipede (2)
• Unidentified Round-backed Millipede (1)
• White-legged Snake Millipede (1)
• Xystodesmid Millipede (1)
• Yellow Spotted Millipede (1)
• Yellow-spotted Millipede (10)

"Millipedes" may indeed deserve their name. The number of segments comprising their body and, hence, the number of legs increases with age. Molting is a regular occurrence throughout their life. Unlike snakes, e.g., the millipedes do not part with the shed cuticle but, instead, use it as an extra segment which with time dutifully acquires a pair of legs. Millipedes, of course, hold the world record for the number of legs. However, they are very slow movers.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of "millipede1"

1595–1605; Latin "milipeda" (Pliny), equivalent to "mili-", "milli-" + "-peda", derivative of "pes", stem "ped-" = "foot"
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"millipede" (n.), also "millepede", type of many-legged hard-shelled arthropod, c. 1600, from Latin "millepeda" = "wood louse", a type of crawling, insect-like arthropod, from "mille" = "thousand" (see million) + "pes" (genitive "pedis") = "foot", from PIE root "*ped-" = "foot". Probably a loan-translation of Greek "khiliopous". The native name is "thousand-legs". The number of legs is far from 1,000, though they are about twice as numerous as those of the "centipede", but unlike some "centipedes" the "millipede" is quite harmless.

also from c. 1600

ide "*ped-", "*ped-" : Proto-Indo-European root meaning "foot".

It forms all or part of: "antipodes"; "apodal"; "Arthropoda"; "babouche"; "biped"; "brachiopod"; "cap-a-pie"; "centipede"; "cephalopod"; "cheliped"; "chiropodist"; "expedite"; "expedition"; "foot"; "foosball"; "fetch" (v.); "fetter"; "fetlock"; "gastropod"; "hexapod"; "impair"; "impede"; "impediment"; "impeach"; "impeccable"; "isopod"; "millipede"; "octopus"; "Oedipus"; "ornithopod"; "pajamas"; "pawn" (n.2) "lowly chess piece"; "peccadillo"; "peccant"; "peccavi"; "pedal"; "pedestrian"; "pedicel"; "pedicle"; "pedicure"; "pedigree"; "pedology"; "pedometer"; "peduncle"; "pejoration"; "pejorative"; "peon"; "pessimism"; "petiole"; "pew"; "Piedmont"; "piepowder"; "pilot"; "pinniped"; "pioneer"; "platypus"; "podiatry"; "podium"; "polyp"; "pseudopod"; "quadruped"; "sesquipedalian"; "stapes"; "talipes"; "tetrapod"; "Theropoda"; "trapezium"; "trapezoid"; "tripod"; "trivet"; "vamp" (n.1) "upper part of a shoe or boot"; "velocipede".

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit "pad-", accusative "padam" "foot"; Avestan "pad-"; Greek "pos", Attic "pous", genitive "podos"; Latin "pes", genitive "pedis" "foot"; Lithuanian "padas" "sole", "peda" "footstep"; Old English "fot", German "Fuß", Gothic "fotus" "foot".

Mrs. Foote Attacked By Millipedes

How Many Legs Does a Millipede Really Have?

How Many Legs Does a Millipede Really Have?

Millipede toxin

"Millipedes" are worm-like bugs. Certain types of millipedes release a harmful substance (toxin) all over their body if they are threatened or if you handle them roughly. Unlike centipedes, millipedes do not bite or sting.
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"millipede", noun
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Etymology

Latin "millepeda", a small crawling animal, from "mille" = "thousand" + "ped-", "pes" = "foot" — more at "FOOT"

First Known Use

1601, in the meaning defined above
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1601: "millipede"

• millipede - an arthropod with a segmented body and many legs
• class Diplopoda arthropods having the body composed of numerous double somites each with two pairs of legs: millipedes
• class Myriapoda arthropods having the body composed of numerous double somites each with two pairs of legs: millipedes
• Diplopoda arthropods having the body composed of numerous double somites each with two pairs of legs: millipedes
• millipede any of numerous herbivorous nonpoisonous arthropods having a cylindrical body of 20 to 100 or more segments most with two pairs of legs
• Myriapoda arthropods having the body composed of numerous double somites each with two pairs of legs: millipedes
• scolopendrium a fern thought to resemble a millipede

Search Results for “Millipede”

"millipede"

Any member of the "arthropod" class "Diaplopoda" with a cylindrical and segmented body, each segment having two pairs of short legs, of which there may be several hundred altogether in some species.

"Millipedes" are vegetarian and, in contrast with "centipedes", lack poison glands, although most kinds produce irritating fluids that repel predation by birds.

"milli-", "mille-", "mill-", "mili-" (Latin: "thousand"; a decimal prefix used in the international metric system for measurements)

In the metric [decimal] system, "milli-" denotes "1/1 000" of a unit, "thousandth" [U.S.] and "thousandth part" [U.K.]; "10**-3" ["0.001"] The metric symbol for "milli-" is "m".

• mile
• millefiori
• millenary
• millennial
• Millennium
• millennium
• millepede
• millesimal
• milliampere
• milliard
• millibar
• millicurie
• millienarian
• millienarianism
• millifarad
• milligram
• milliliter
• millilitre
• millimeter
• millimetre
• milliohm
• million
• millionaire
• millipede
• millirad
• milliroentgen
• millisecond
• millivolt
• milliwatt