Plants & CreaturesGreek → English
Hexapod
/ˈhɛksəpɑd/noun
A six-legged animal, especially an insect, or a six-legged machine.
The Greek roots
ἕξ
héx
six
πούς
poús
foot
Literally: “six feet”
The story of the word
Six legs is the feature that defines an insect, which is why Hexapoda is the formal name of the group holding the insects and a few wingless relatives. Spiders have eight, myriapods have too many to count without a microscope, and the leg count is the first thing a field guide asks you to check. Engineering borrowed the word twice, for walking robots and for the six-strut Stewart platform that tilts flight simulators.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → New Latin → English
- First recorded
- 19th century
Same family
hexagonhexametertripodmyriapodoctopus
In a sentence
The hexapod robot kept walking after two of its legs failed.
Count the legs: six makes it a hexapod, and springtails count too.