Centipede joins PIE *ḱm̥tóm (hundred) + *ped- (foot) — two of the deepest IE roots. The centum root is at the heart of the centum/satem isogloss. No centipede actually has 100 legs — they always have an odd number of pairs, making 100 mathematically impossible.
Any arthropod of the class Chilopoda, having an elongated segmented body with one pair of legs per segment, typically between 30 and 354 legs, and venomous forcipules.
From Neo-Latin 'centipeda,' a compound of Latin 'centum' (hundred) and 'pes,' genitive 'pedis' (foot). 'Centum' descends from PIE *km-tom (hundred), itself from *dekm-t (ten) — the hundred being conceived as 'ten tens' or 'a great ten.' The word 'pes' traces to PIE *ped- (foot), one of the most prolific Indo-European roots, yielding English 'foot,' 'pedal,' 'pedestrian,' 'pedigree,' 'pioneer,' and 'impediment.' Despite the name
No centipede species has ever been found with exactly 100 legs. They always have an odd number of leg pairs (15, 21, 23...), making the total always even but never 100. The centum/satem isogloss — the split where Latin kept *ḱ as /k/ (centum) while Sanskrit shifted it to /ś/ (śatam) — is one of historical linguistics' most famous discoveries, and this humble creature carries