# How many legs does a centipede have?



## papillon

Hi all,
in English, a centipede has 100 feet/legs. In Russian, however, that number is reduced to 40:
Russian - сороконожка (sorokonozhka, _lit_.: of forty feet).

How many feet/legs, if any, does a centipede have in your language? And what of millepedes?

Thank you for your replies!


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## Outsider

In Portuguese, centopede is "centopeia" (or "centopéia"). Since "cento" means a hundred and "pé" means foot, that leaves us no option but to believe that they have a hundred feet. 

Millipeds are called "miriápodes" ("with a thousand feet", from Greek), but this is a scientific name which most people aren't familiar with. We have other names for them, not related to the number of feet.


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## Nander

Very interesting topic 

Centipede is _tusenfoting _(lit. "thousand-feeter") in Swedish.


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## Mutichou

The French word I found for centipede is "_chilopode_," but it's a scientific name. Millipedes are known as "_mille-pattes_" – literally "thousand-legs."


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## modus.irrealis

Greek has 40 for the centipede like Russian, σαρανταποδαρούσα, since σαραντα = forty and ποδι is foot. (I don't know how you say millipede though.)


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## Jana337

Czech: stonožka, 100.


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## OldAvatar

papillon said:


> Hi all,
> in English, a centipede has 100 feet/legs. In Russian, however, that number is reduced to 40:
> Russian - сороконожка (sorokonozhka, _lit_.: of forty feet).
> 
> How many feet/legs, if any, does a centipede have in your language? And what of millepedes?
> 
> Thank you for your replies!



I can't figure out any other word in Romanian for that kind of insect, except *miriapod.   *So, it's got a thousand legs


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## Outsider

Just to know what we're talking about, here are the scientific names and a few pictures:

Centipedes: Chilopoda

Millipedes: Diplopoda

Miriapoda is a subphylum which includes both.


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## Hakro

*Finnish:* tuhatjalkainen - tuhat = thousand


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian they are called *tusenbein* - 'thousand legs'.


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## irene.acler

In *Italian*: millepiedi (1000).


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## Chazzwozzer

A Turkish centipede has forty legs, too. (*kırkayak*)


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

In *Spanish*:

- Centipede = Cienpiés (hundred + feet)
- Millepede = Milpiés (thousand + feet)

By the way, thanks for a fun, original "All languages" thread, papillon!


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## kirsitn

Lemminkäinen said:


> In Norwegian they are called *tusenbein* - 'thousand legs'.



Millipedes are called "tusenbein", but centipedes are called "skolopender", a norwegianized version of their latin name, Scolopendra.


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## Lemminkäinen

kirsitn said:


> Millipedes are called "tusenbein", but centipedes are called "skolopender", a norwegianized version of their latin name, Scolopendra.



Oooh, you're absolutely right! It sure is a long time since I've heard that word though; I think 'tusenbein' is more common colloquially. A very nice word in general, though


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## Aurin

German:
Tausendfüßler (1000)


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## Flaminius

Japanese (actually from Chinese):
百足 (むかで)
100 feet


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## Alijsh

In Persian we say *hezârpâ*: *hezâr*: 1000; *pâ*: foot, leg. In Eastern Persian *hezâr* is *hazâr*. So it's *hazârpâ*. 

Well, in Persian, 1000 is used to magnify a characteristic. *hezârchehre*: having 1000 faces. It's a word for hypocrite as well as *doru* (two-faced). *hezârdastân*: 1000-melody i.e. nightingale.

for centipede we have *sadpâ* (sad: 100) but it's not used in ordinary language.


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## papillon

Thanks everyone for your replies - I did learned a lot! I even got reminded of Russian word that I had forgotten:



kirsitn said:


> Millipedes are called "tusenbein", but centipedes are called "skolopender", a norwegianized version of their latin name, Scolopendra.


Yes, of course, we have a scolopendra too, though I probably wouldn´t know the difference between a scolopendra and a ¨sorokonozhka¨ (the ¨40 feet¨).

So it seems that it´s between 40 (Russian, Greek, Turkish), 100 and 1000 (though not necessarily for the same animal). I wonder if there would be any other numbers?


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## Whodunit

Aurin said:


> German:
> Tausendfüßler (1000)


 
We also have Hundertfüßer ("100 leggers").


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## Frank06

Hi,

In Dutch: 
*Duizendpoot* (Chilopoda) (English centipede)
*Miljoenpoot* (Diplopoda, earlier Chilognatha) (English millipede)

Groetjes

Frank


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## krolaina

Venezuelan_sweetie said:


> In *Spanish*:
> 
> - Centipede = Cienpiés (hundred + feet)
> - Millepede = Milpiés (thousand + feet)
> 
> By the way, thanks for a fun, original "All languages" thread, papillon!


.

All my life I thought it was "cienpiés"  but the real name is cieMpiés. That´s curious... ("m" before "p", I guess...)


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## Maja

In Serbian:

Centipede is *stonoga* (hundred feet).


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## dn88

Maja said:


> In Serbian:
> 
> Centipede is *stonoga* (hundred feet).



The same in Polish - "stonoga" (hundred feet).


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## Venezuelan_sweetie

krolaina said:


> All my life I thought it was "cienpiés" but the real name is cieMpiés. That´s curious... ("m" before "p", I guess...)


You are so right...! 

I must have been carried away by the cien/mil + pies precision, when other languages mess the whole thing up!  Ah, come on! Admit it: Spanish is beautiful!


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, centipede is _skolopendro_ while millipede is _miriapodo_.  The name for centipede in Esperanto doesn’t refer to a number of legs.  But the word for millipede comes from the Greek and apparently refers to numerous feet.


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## Lello4ever

irene.acler said:


> In *Italian*: millepiedi (1000).


 
Millepiedi is millipede
Centopiedi is centipede


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## suslik

well, in Estonian we say *sajajalgne*, what means with 100 legs.


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## deine

In Lithuania we call both - šimtakojis. It has 100 legs.


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## anie

Hi!!!
In spanish: Cienpies.


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## kusurija

Outsider said:


> Just to know what we're talking about, here are the scientific names and a few pictures:
> 
> Centipedes: Chilopoda
> 
> Millipedes: Diplopoda
> 
> Miriapoda is a subphylum which includes both.


In Czech:
Chilopoda - stonožky (100; femininum)
Diplopoda - mnohonožky (a lot; f.)
Miriapoda - stonožkovci (100; m.)

In Lithuanian:
Chilopoda - lūpakojai (almost only scientists knows this term; lūpa = labium)
Diplopoda - dviporiakojai (almost only scientists knows this term; 2 pairs of legs  this termine is word-to-word translation from Latin)
Miriapoda - šimtakojai


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## Kanes

In Bulgarian it is _stonozka_ - 100


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## amikama

Strange, seems that Hebrew is an exception here:

Chilopoda - *נדל* (_nadal_). I don't know the etymology of this word. Not a composed word.

Diplopoda - *רב רגליים* (formal) or *מרבה רגליים* (popular and more common). Both can be translated as "many legs".

So in Hebrew both have no specific number in their names.


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## Cephissus

Nizo said:


> In *Esperanto*, centipede is _skolopendro_ while millipede is _miriapodo_.  The name for centipede in Esperanto doesn’t refer to a number of legs.  But the word for millipede comes from the Greek and apparently refers to numerous feet.



Nizo, as much as I know (and had been confirmed by Wikipedia), more accurate scientific terms do exist in Esperanto:
Centpiedulo is used for centipede, while milpiedulo is the equivalent of millipede.
Miriapodo in Esperanto is the sub-class in which centipedes and millipedes are included - English Myriapoda, while _skolopendro _(Scolopendra_)_ is the genus.


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## OneStroke

amikama said:


> Strange, seems that Hebrew is an exception here:
> 
> Chilopoda - *נדל* (_nadal_). I don't know the etymology of this word. Not a composed word.
> 
> Diplopoda - *רב רגליים* (formal) or *מרבה רגליים* (popular and more common). Both can be translated as "many legs".
> 
> So in Hebrew both have no specific number in their names.



No, Chinese too. In Chinese it's 蜈蚣 - wugong, which is a two-syllable morpheme. This is very rare in Chinese!


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## apmoy70

modus.irrealis said:


> Greek has 40 for the centipede like Russian, σαρανταποδαρούσα, since σαραντα = forty and ποδι is foot. (I don't know how you say millipede though.)



«Χιλιοποδαρούσα» /çiʎopoða'rusa/ (fem.); compound, adv. «χίλια» /'çilia/ and colloquially /'çiʎa/ --> _one thousand_, Classical adj. (found only in plural) «χίλιοι, -αι, -ια» ('xĭlīœ, masc./'xĭlīæ, fem./'xĭlīă, neut.)--> _one thousand_ + «πόδι» /'poði/ (neut.)--> _foot_, Classical masculine noun «ποῦς» (pous).
Google also gives «μυριοποδαρούσα» /mirʝopoða'rusa/ (fem.); compound, adv. «μύρια» /'miria/ and colloquially /'mirʝa/ --> _myriad, a very great number_, Classical feminine noun «μυριάς» (mŭrī'ās)--> _ten thousand, countless numbers_ + «πόδι» /'poði/ (neut.)--> _foot_, Classical masculine noun «ποῦς» (pous).


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## AquisM

Apart from 蜈蚣, Chinese also has the word 百足 (Mandarin: baizu/Cantonese: bak zuk), which literally means _hundred feet_.

Millipedes also have two names: 马陆/馬陸 (Mandarin: malu/Cantonese: maa luk) and 千足虫/千足蟲 (Mandarin: qianzuchong/Cantonese: tsin zuk tsung - lit. thousand feet bug)


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## OneStroke

According to Wikipedia, there's also 蝍蛆 (another two-syllable morpheme?!?)、吳公、天龍、百腳、百足蟲 for centipede. Those are some lucky centipedes!  I feel sorry for the millipedes.


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## francisgranada

Hungarian:

*százlábú 
*(exactly 100 legs )


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## mataripis

1.)Tagalog: Ilang Paa mayroon ang isang alupihan/Aluhipan? Answer: Numerous = Marami 2.) De pa Dumaget: Pedea Senget te duman on isin a 
alope-ahn?  E tobeg(the answer)= makmuk (many/numerous)


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## AutumnOwl

Nander said:


> Centipede is _tusenfoting _(lit. "thousand-feeter") in Swedish.


That's the common named used in Sweden for both centipedes and millipedes, the scientific names are:

Miriapoda - mångfotingar (many feeter)
Chilopoda - enkelfotingar (single feeter)
Diplopoda - dubbelfotingar (double feeter)
Symphyla - dvärgfotingar (dwarf feeter)
Pauropoda - fåfotingar (few feeter)


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## ancalimon

Turkish:  kırkayak  (forty feet)


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