*ped-

The core idea of this root was:

foot

The most obvious offspring is of course the word foot itself, but the family is surprisingly big and divers.
The main branch is the one around the Latin ped, pod which were about foot, too.

  • pedicure (“foot care”)
  • pedestrian (“person on foot”)
  • tripod (“three feet”)
  • octopus (“8 feet”)
  • centipede (“100 feet”)
  • pedal (“for the foot”)
  • impede (“shackle the feet”)
  • expedite, expedition (“free the feet”)
  • peon, pawn (“foot soldier”)
  • pioneer (“foot soldier” who goes first)
  • podium, pedestal (“foot rest”)
  • pessimism (“downward, on foot, stumbling”)

And that’s not all. Here are some more relatives:

  • platypus (“flat foot”)
  • polyp (“many feet”)
  • pilot (Originally “guy at the rudder”, with “rudder” in Greek being related to foot)
  • Oedipus (“swollen foot”)

 

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This root gave rise to 6+ German words.

Word Family 6 words

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Do you have questions about the usage or meaning of “*ped-”? Just ask here and I’ll try to clear it up.

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