-pede

The combining form –pede is used like a suffix meaning “having a foot.” It is occasionally used in scientific terms, especially in biology.

The form –pede comes from Latin -pēs, meaning “-footed.” The Greek cognate of –pēs is –pous, “-footed,” which is the source of numerous combining forms that relate to the lower extremities, including pod–, podo–, –pod, –poda, –pode, –podium, and –podous. Discover more at our Words That Use articles for each of these seven forms.

What are variants of –pede?

The form –pede is a variant of –ped. Though not a variant, the form pedi– has the same root as –pede. Want to know more? Read our Words That Use articles for –ped and pedi-.

One example of a term that features the form –pede is centipede, a kind of arthropod with many legs. Centipede comes from Latin centipeda, which uses the equivalent of –pede in that language.

The centi– part of the word means “hundred,” from Latin centum, while the form –pede in this case means “-footed.” Centipede literally translates to “hundred-footed,” or having hundreds of feet.

What are some words that use the combining form –pede?

• cirripede
• millipede (using the equivalent form of -pede in Latin)
• multipede (using the equivalent form of -pede in Latin)
• velocipede (using the equivalent form of -pede in French)

What are some other forms that –pede may be commonly confused with?

• -pedia
• -penia
• -ploid

Not every word that ends with the exact letters –pede, such as impede or stampede, is necessarily using the combining form –pede to denote “-footed.” Learn why stampede means “frenzied rush” at our entry for the word.

The combining form milli– means “thousand.” With this in mind, what does millipede mean?