-pedcomb. form

Etymology: < French -pède and its etymon classical (and post-classical) Latin -ped-, -pēs, combining form (in e.g. multiped- , multipēs multiped n., palmiped- , palmipēs palmiped adj.) of ped- , pēs foot < the same Indo-European base as foot n. and int. Compare -pod comb. form.Formations with this combining form occur from the beginning of the 17th cent. In the 17th and 18th centuries, formations are borrowed from classical and post-classical Latin words (e.g. multiped n. and adj., palmiped n. and adj.). English formations are found by the beginning of the 19th cent. (e.g. uniped n. and adj.). Formations of either kind are rare after 1900. Early 17th-cent. texts have forms in -pede , and new formations in -pede appear until the late 19th cent. Forms in -ped appear in the second half of the 17th cent., and are usual in 20th-cent. texts (centipede and millipede are, however, traditionally spelt with -e ). The variation between -ped and -pede is irregular, and does not appear to reflect derivation from Latin and French respectively. It is impossible to tell which form of the singular underlies early plurals in -pedes . The two forms are therefore treated here as variants of a single suffix. Formations are usually in -iped , except after stems ending in a vowel other than i (e.g. monoped adj. and n., quadruped n. and adj.).