Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of numerous invertebrate animals of the phylum Arthropoda, including the insects, crustaceans, arachnids, and myriapods, that are characterized by a chitinous exoskeleton, a segmented body, and jointed appendages.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A jointed invertebrate animal with jointed legs; one of the Arthropoda.
  • Arthropodous; pertaining to or having the characters of the Arthropoda.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of the Arthropoda.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An invertebrate animal of the phylum Arthropoda, characterized by a chitinous exoskeleton and multiple jointed appendages.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun invertebrate having jointed limbs and a segmented body with an exoskeleton made of chitin

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Arthropoda, phylum name : arthro– + New Latin -poda, -pod.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin arthropoda, from Ancient Greek ἄρθρον (arthron, "joint") + πούς (pous, "foot").

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Examples

  • From the diminutive to the rather large, something for fans of invertebrates, Hurdia victoria, a half-meter long predatory arthropod from the famous Cambrian-aged Burgess Shale of British Columbia.

    "So lose some sleep and say you tried." mechangel 2009

  • Researchers who have had the chance to see the amazing fossil say that the only thing you need to investigate the arthropod is a microscope.

    Softpedia News - Global Tudor Vieru 2010

  • Researchers who have had the chance to see the amazing fossil say that the only thing you need to investigate the arthropod is a microscope.

    Softpedia News - Global 2010

  • He ditched me for an arthropod but I'm almost over it ...

    sickdays The Nag 2009

  • It seemed to be to be about a foot long (probably six inches), it's arthropod feet scuttling along the floor, humping it's multiple legs in a nasty fashion.

    What Flips Your Fear Switch? 2009

  • The team has so far recorded 100 different arthropod species, but Rust said they expect to find more, some of which are likely to be close relatives of animals in Africa and Madagascar.

    Prehistoric creatures discovered in huge Indian amber haul Ian Sample 2010

  • Fossil hunters find 150kg of amber in Gujarat province containing over 700 arthropod specimens

    Prehistoric creatures discovered in huge Indian amber haul Ian Sample 2010

  • Far more satisfying was the Howard Wolowitz/Sheldon Cooper showdown over whether their captured arthropod was Toby the common field cricket or Jiminy the snow tree cricket.

    'Big Bang Theory': Sheldon is (gasp!) proven wrong | EW.com 2009

  • Thomas Hardwicke's collection included arthropod drawings with precise details, such as this tarantula by an artist only known as J.

    Up Close With Fur and Feathers 2011

  • It seemed to be to be about a foot long (probably six inches), it's arthropod feet scuttling along the floor, humping it's multiple legs in a nasty fashion.

    What Flips Your Fear Switch? 2009

Comments

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  • ...a somewhat less highly conventionalized social form co-exists with the highest individual mental endowment ever attained by an Arthropod.

    - Caryl P. Haskins, Of Ants and Men, 1939, p. 48

    December 5, 2008