millipede
/ˈmɪləpid/
millipede noun: 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.
Noun
millipede (plural millipedes)
- 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.
- 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...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...
- 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.1993, Rod Preston-Mafham, The Encyclopedia of Land Invertebrate Behaviour, page 14
- Synonyms:
- diplopod
millipede meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
millipede in Hindi
- elongated arthropod
- गिजाई gijāī
millipede in Tamil
- மரவட்டை
millipede in Urdu
- elongated arthropod
- گوجر
millipede in Malayalam
- elongated arthropod
- തേരട്ട tēraṭṭa
More languagesFewer languages
- millipede in Kannada
- ಸಾವಿರಕಾಲು, ಜರಿ, ಸಂಧಿಪದಿ, ಲಕ್ಷ್ಮೀಚೇಳು
- millipede in Assamese
- কেৰেলুৱা kerelua
- millipede in Tagalog
- singsing-singsingan, singsingpari
- millipede in Arabic
- دُودَة أَلْفِيَّة dūda ʔalfiyya, ذات الألف قدم
- millipede in Malay
- gonggok
- millipede in Indonesian
- kaki seribu
- millipede in Persian
- هزارپا hezâr-pâ
- millipede in Thai
- กิ้งกือ gînggeu
- millipede in Vietnamese
- cuốn chiếu
Examples of millipede in a sentence
- When alive, millipedes maintain tension in these^([intersegmental]) muscles and are therefore difficult to straighten out when coiled.2005, Thomas Eisner, For Love of Insects, page 276:
- Soil millipedes (Diplopoda) possess a specific gut microbiota that differs from microbial communities in soil and leaf litter.2006, Boris A. Byzov, “4: Intestinal Microbiota of Millipedes”, in Helmut König, Ajit Varma, editors, Intestinal Microorganisms of Termites...
- 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.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...
- An entomologist named a new species of millipede Nannaria swiftae after pop star Taylor Swift.2022 April 20, Megan Marples, “Taylor Swift inspired an entomologist to name a new millipede species after the megastar”, in CNN, archived...
Synonyms of millipede
Forms of millipede
| plural | millipedes |
|---|---|
| alternative form (dated) | millepede |
| alternative form (archaic) | milleped |
| alternative form (archaic) | milliped |
Origin of millipede
From Latin mīllipeda (“wood louse”), from mīlle (“thousand”) + pēs, pedis (“foot”), equivalent to milli- + -pede.
Words formed from millipede
- black millipede
- flat-backed millipede
- millipedal
- millipede burn
- millipedic
- pill millipede
Phrases with millipede
Questions about millipede
- What does millipede mean?
- Millipede means 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.
- What is millipede in Hindi?
- Millipede in Hindi is गिजाई (gijāī). See Millipede meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use millipede in a sentence?
- When alive, millipedes maintain tension in these^([intersegmental]) muscles and are therefore difficult to straighten out when coiled.
- What part of speech is millipede?
- Millipede is a noun.
- How do you pronounce millipede?
- Millipede is pronounced /ˈmɪləpid/ (US).
- What is the plural of millipede?
- The plural of millipede is millipedes.
Words near millipede in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: millipede (page history and authors); millipede (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); millipede (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-millipede.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-millipede.wav.
Cite this entry: “millipede.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/millipede. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.