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millipede

millipede

5 4.9
A small long animal with many legs that eats plants or dead leaves
  • noun
  • /ˈmɪlɪˌpid/
translation icon : milpiés
  • Some millipedes have eyes, some don't.

It looks like a whole pile of millipede legs moving.

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Examples

  • The garden was teeming with life, including a millipede that scurried across the damp soil.

  • During our nature walk, we observed a millipede slowly crawling over a patch of moss.

  • It's the biggest millipede species in the world.

  • A harmless old millipede, she thought, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Granted, it's an enormous harmless millipede, but still....

    Fiction book (2000)
  • There are around 10,000 species of millipedes, but the one with the most legs of all is Illacme plenipes.

    Blog text (29)
  • The purple pitcher plant is a deathtrap for insects, millipedes, spiders, and even small frogs.

    Academic text (1992)
  • From crustaceans to millipedes, spiders to insects, the arthropods outnumber all animals on land.

  • In the rainforest exhibit, visitors can walk through a model forest canopy and view its native inhabitants: scorpions, millipedes, and walking sticks, among others.

    Academic text (1993)
  • As he explored the forest floor, he spotted a vibrant millipede wriggling among the fallen leaves.

Synonyms

milliped
vsmillipede
8.0

A small animal with a long round body and many legs that moves slowly

is the standard, more widely used spelling in modern English
diplopod
vsmillipede
  • Specialized
9.2

An animal with many body segments and many legs like a millipede

is the common everyday name rather than the formal scientific class term

Surface Forms

millipede singular
millipedes plural

Morphology

millipede = milli + pede

The word is formed from Latin combining elements (milli- + -pede) that are not standalone English words, so an average B1 learner cannot reliably derive 'many-legged arthropod' from the components.

Etymology

Millipede comes from two parts: milli- meaning 'thousand' and -pede meaning 'foot', and you see the same idea in centipede, which means 'hundred feet', and in pedal, which means 'foot'. So a millipede is an animal with very many feet — almost a 'thousand' — which explains its long, many-segmented body.