mindmap
root((PED))
quadruped
An animal having four feet.
🌱She always tells her friends that their farm has five kinds of quadrupeds: sheep, goats, cows, horses, and pigs. 🌳The quadrupeds include almost all the mammals. （Among the exceptions are whales, bats, and humans.） The Greek equivalent of this Latin word is tetrapod. However, the two are not identical, since the tetrapod classification includes bipeds such as birds, in which two of the limbs are no longer used for walking. Insects all have six legs, of course, and in the sea there are eight-legged octopods （including the octopus）. But there are no animals of any kind with an odd number of legs. pedigree The line of ancestors of a person or animal.
🌱She talks a lot about her pedigree, but never mentions that a couple of her uncles spent time in prison. 🌳What does someone's ancestry have to do with feet? Because someone once thought that a family tree, or genealogical chart, resembled a crane's foot （in French, pied de grue）, even though cranes' feet only have four talons or claws, no more than any other bird, while a family tree may have hundreds of branches. The word pedigree is usually used for purebred animals—cats, racehorses, and dogs, as well as livestock such as cows and sheep. Some people continue to believe that "purity" in human family trees is a good thing as well, though most of us find the idea a little creepy. impediment Something that interferes with movement or progress.
🌱Her poorly developed verbal ability was the most serious impediment to her advancement. 🌳Impediment comes from a Latin verb that meant "to interfere with" or "to get in the way of progress," as if by tripping up the feet of someone walking. In English, impediment still suggests an obstruction or obstacle along a path; for example, a lack of adequate roads and bridges would be called an impediment to economic development. Impediments usually get in the way of something we want. So we may speak of an impediment to communication, marriage, or progress—but something that slows the progress of aging, disease, or decay is rarely called an impediment. pedestrian Commonplace, ordinary, or unimaginative.
🌱While politicians endlessly discussed the great issues facing Russia, the Russians worried about such pedestrian concerns as finding enough food, shelter, and clothing. 🌳Most of us know pedestrian as a noun meaning someone who travels on foot. But the adjective sense of pedestrian as defined here is actually its original meaning. To be pedestrian was to be drab or dull, as if plodding along on foot rather than speeding on horseback or by coach. Pedestrian is often used to describe a colorless or lifeless writing style, but it can also describe politicians, public tastes, personal qualities, or possessions. In comparison with the elaborate stage shows put on by today's rock artists, for instance, most of the stage presentations of 1960s rock stars seem pedestrian.
🌱She always tells her friends that their farm has five kinds of quadrupeds: sheep, goats, cows, horses, and pigs. 🌳The quadrupeds include almost all the mammals. （Among the exceptions are whales, bats, and humans.） The Greek equivalent of this Latin word is tetrapod. However, the two are not identical, since the tetrapod classification includes bipeds such as birds, in which two of the limbs are no longer used for walking. Insects all have six legs, of course, and in the sea there are eight-legged octopods （including the octopus）. But there are no animals of any kind with an odd number of legs. pedigree The line of ancestors of a person or animal.
🌱She talks a lot about her pedigree, but never mentions that a couple of her uncles spent time in prison. 🌳What does someone's ancestry have to do with feet? Because someone once thought that a family tree, or genealogical chart, resembled a crane's foot （in French, pied de grue）, even though cranes' feet only have four talons or claws, no more than any other bird, while a family tree may have hundreds of branches. The word pedigree is usually used for purebred animals—cats, racehorses, and dogs, as well as livestock such as cows and sheep. Some people continue to believe that "purity" in human family trees is a good thing as well, though most of us find the idea a little creepy. impediment Something that interferes with movement or progress.
🌱Her poorly developed verbal ability was the most serious impediment to her advancement. 🌳Impediment comes from a Latin verb that meant "to interfere with" or "to get in the way of progress," as if by tripping up the feet of someone walking. In English, impediment still suggests an obstruction or obstacle along a path; for example, a lack of adequate roads and bridges would be called an impediment to economic development. Impediments usually get in the way of something we want. So we may speak of an impediment to communication, marriage, or progress—but something that slows the progress of aging, disease, or decay is rarely called an impediment. pedestrian Commonplace, ordinary, or unimaginative.
🌱While politicians endlessly discussed the great issues facing Russia, the Russians worried about such pedestrian concerns as finding enough food, shelter, and clothing. 🌳Most of us know pedestrian as a noun meaning someone who travels on foot. But the adjective sense of pedestrian as defined here is actually its original meaning. To be pedestrian was to be drab or dull, as if plodding along on foot rather than speeding on horseback or by coach. Pedestrian is often used to describe a colorless or lifeless writing style, but it can also describe politicians, public tastes, personal qualities, or possessions. In comparison with the elaborate stage shows put on by today's rock artists, for instance, most of the stage presentations of 1960s rock stars seem pedestrian.
PED comes from the Latin word for "foot." A pedal is pushed by the foot; a pedicure is a treatment of the feet, toes, and toenails; and a pedestal is what a statue stands on—in a sense, its foot.🌸