arthropoda
|ar-thro-po-da|
🇺🇸
/ˌɑrθrəˈpoʊdə/
🇬🇧
/ˌɑːθrəˈpɒdə/
joint-footed animals
Etymology
'arthropoda' originates from New Latin, specifically the word 'Arthropoda', where Greek 'arthron' meant 'joint' and 'pous/podos' meant 'foot'.
'arthropoda' was formed in modern scientific (New Latin) usage in the 19th century by combining the Greek elements 'arthron' and 'pous' to create the taxonomic name 'Arthropoda' for the group of jointed-legged animals.
Initially it literally meant 'joint-footed' (i.e., having jointed feet/appendages); over time it became the formal scientific name for the phylum of animals with those features.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a major phylum of invertebrate animals characterized by segmented bodies, an external skeleton (exoskeleton), and paired, jointed appendages; includes insects, arachnids, crustaceans, and myriapods.
Arthropoda is the largest phylum in the animal kingdom in terms of number of described species.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/10/23 06:12