centipede

From French centipède, from Latin centipeda, centipēs, from centi- (“hundred”) + pēs (“foot”);[1][2] equivalent to centi- +‎ -pede.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛn.tɪ.pid/

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centipede (plural centipedes)

1. Any arthropod of class Chilopoda, which have a segmented body with one pair of legs per segment and from about 20 to 300 legs in total.
   • 1993, Gordon M. Nishida, JoAnn M. Tenorio, What Bit Me?: Identifying Hawai'i's Stinging and Biting Insects and Their Kin, page 29:

     Centipedes differ from millipedes by having a single pair of legs on each body segment.

   • 2008, Thom Holmes, March Onto Land: The Silurian Period to the Middle Triassic Epoch‎, page 58:

     The existence of millipedes, centipedes, insects, and spiders along-side the first tetrapods sustained a robust ecosystem in which most animals were predators or scavengers.

   • 2011, Alan Gunn, Essential Forensic Biology, 2nd edition, unnumbered page:

     All centipedes (Chilopoda) and spiders (Aranea) are predatory and although they are often found on corpses their impact on the other fauna is not known.

2. (obsolete) A many-oared Chinese smuggling boat.

   Synonyms: fast crab, scrambling dragon

• The spelling "centiped" was formerly considered the only correct form by prescriptivists and is still preferred by many scientists who work with myriapods, but this spelling is by far the most common in actual use.

• (any species of class Chilopoda): chilopod

• millipede
• myriapod

centipede

1. ablative singular of centipēs