polyped

American  

[pol-ee-ped] / ˈpɒl iˌpɛd /

noun

1. a being or object having many legs.

   Her favorite toy is a bug-shaped polyped.

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adjective

1. having many legs.

   a polyped table.

Etymology

Origin of polyped

1815–25; poly- + -ped, perhaps on the model of quadruped

Explanation

We use the word polyped to describe animals with many feet. Just as two-footed humans are biped, and four-footed horses are quadruped, many-legged creatures like spiders and centipedes are polyped. Polyped can be broken into two parts: poly, meaning "many," and ped, meaning "foot." The word is most often used in zoology, sometimes to describe insect larvae, like caterpillars, which have many functional feet, and sometimes to describe invertebrates like octopuses or millipedes. Technically, even inanimate objects can be polyped: A table with many legs or a multi-legged robot can be referred to as polyped. The word can be used as an adjective ("a polyped structure") or a noun ("the caterpillar is a polyped").