Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Diplopod
/ˈdɪpləpɒd/noun
A millipede, a many-segmented arthropod bearing two pairs of legs on most body segments.
The Greek roots
διπλόος
diplóos
double, twofold
πούς
poús
foot
Literally: “double-foot”
The story of the word
The name records the diagnostic feature: each apparent segment is two fused together, so it carries two pairs of legs, while centipedes manage one pair per segment. No millipede has a thousand legs, though a species described in Australia in 2021 reached 1,306. They are slow, chemically defended detritus-eaters rather than hunters, which is why the count matters more than the speed.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → scientific Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
diplomadiplomatoctopuspodiumtripod
In a sentence
Lift any damp log and you will find diplopods curled underneath.
Diplopods were among the first animals to breathe air on land.