tetrapod

[ te-truh-pod ]

noun

1. any vertebrate having four limbs or, as in the snake and whale, having had four-limbed ancestors.
2. an object, as a caltrop, having four projections radiating from one central node, with each forming an angle of 120° with any other, so that no matter how the object is placed on a relatively flat surface, three of the projections will form a supporting tripod and the fourth will point directly upward.

adjective

1. having four limbs or descended from four-limbed ancestors.

tetrapod

/ ˈtɛtrəˌpɒd /

noun

1. any vertebrate that has four limbs
2. Also calledcaltrop a device consisting of four arms radiating from a central point, each at about 109° to the others, so that regardless of its position on a surface, three arms form a supporting tripod and the fourth is vertical
3. engineering a very large cast concrete structure of a similar shape piled in large numbers round breakwaters and sea defence systems to dissipate the energy of the waves

tetrapod

/ tĕt′rə-pŏd′ /

1. Having four feet, legs, or leglike appendages.
2. Any of various mostly terrestrial vertebrates that breathe air with lungs. Most tetrapods have two pairs of limbs, though some, such as whales and snakes, have lost one or both pairs. Tetrapods include the amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and various extinct groups, and evolved from lobe-finned fish during the late Devonian Period. Tetrapods are classified according to the structure of their skull into anapsids, diapsids, and synapsids.

Word History and Origins

Origin of tetrapod¹

1820–30; < New Latin tetrapodus < Greek tetrapod- (stem of tetrápous ) four-footed. ( tetra-, -pod ) + New Latin -us adj. suffix

Example Sentences

The study reconstructed the family tree of early tetrapods to piece together that critical period.

From Popular-Science

Sometime in the steamy mid-Devonian, a family of those fish followed plants and bugs onto land and became the first tetrapods, or four-legged vertebrates.

From Popular-Science

By analyzing genes with transposon signatures from nearly 600 tetrapods, the researchers found 106 distinct genes that may have fused with a transposon.

From Quanta Magazine

Contributions to the question of the origin of the tetrapod limb.

From Project Gutenberg

Tetrapod, tet′ra-pod, n. an insect distinguished by having but four perfect legs.

From Project Gutenberg