'heteropodal' originates from Greek, specifically the word 'heteropous', where 'hetero-' meant 'different' and 'pous' meant 'foot'.

'heteropodal' developed via New/Scientific Latin (e.g. 'heteropodus'/'heteropous') and was adopted into English in scientific zoological usage as 'heteropodal'.

Initially it meant 'different-footed' in a literal morphological sense; over time it has remained a specialized term used chiefly in zoology to describe organisms with dissimilar feet or foot-like appendages.