millipede

English

Some millipedes.

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Latin mīllipeda (“wood louse”), from mīlle (“thousand”) + pēs, pedis (“foot”), equivalent to milli- +‎ -pede.

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɪləpid/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Audio (US):(file)

Noun

millipede (plural millipedes)

  1. 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. [from 1601]
    Synonym: diplopod
    • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XX.] Of the Serpentine Cucumber, called otherwise the Wandering Cucumber: also of the Garden Cucumbers, Melons or Pompions.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 37:
      The ſaid leaves alſo ſtamped with honey and brought to the forme of a cataplaſme, cure the bloudie-falls or night-blains: but tempered with wine, they heale the bitings of dogs, as alſo of the Millepeed, which the Greeks call Seps, a long worm with hairie feet, doing much harme to cattaile eſpecially; for looke where it biteth, the place preſently ſwelleth and putrifieth.
    • 1993, Rod Preston-Mafham, The Encyclopedia of Land Invertebrate Behaviour, page 14:
      With one or two exceptions, male millipedes make direct contact with the female and transfer sperm via a pair of modified front legs (gonopods) which have been charged with semen from the genitalia situated towards the rear of the body.
    • 2005, Thomas Eisner, For Love of Insects, page 276:
      When alive, millipedes maintain tension in these[intersegmental] muscles and are therefore difficult to straighten out when coiled.
    • 2006, Boris A. Byzov, “4: Intestinal Microbiota of Millipedes”, in Helmut König, Ajit Varma, editors, Intestinal Microorganisms of Termites and Other Invertebrates, page 89:
      Soil millipedes (Diplopoda) possess a specific gut microbiota that differs from microbial communities in soil and leaf litter.
    • 2020 May 19, Allen Kim, “A parasite that feeds off of the reproductive organs of millipedes is named after Twitter, where it was found”, in CNN‎[1], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 19 August 2021:
      Working with her colleague Henrik Enghoff, the two discovered several specimens of the same fungus on North American millipedes right there in the Natural History Museum’s collection.
    • 2022 April 20, Megan Marples, “Taylor Swift inspired an entomologist to name a new millipede species after the megastar”, in CNN‎[2], Atlanta, Ga.: Warner Bros. Discovery, archived from the original on 17 July 2023:
      An entomologist named a new species of millipede Nannaria swiftae after pop star Taylor Swift.

Usage notes

  • The spellings "milliped" and "milleped" were formerly considered the only correct forms by prescriptivists, but they have fallen out of use.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

Further reading

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