Today's Word "Antipodes"
Published in Vocabulary
antipodes \an-TIP-eh-deez\ (noun) - 1 : A place on the opposite side of the Earth; 2 : the antithetical location or position, the exact opposite of something.
"When the tug-of-war rope broke, the opposing teams wound up in two antipodal heaps."
From the Greek prefix anti- "against" + podes "feet," the singular of pous "foot." Greek "pous" has given us "platypus" (flat-foot) and "octopus" (eight-foot). So, although these words end with a Latin-looking "-us," they should have Greek plurals: "platypodes" and "octopodes," not "platypi" and "octopi." It is safer (and more usual) to settle for plain English "platypuses" and "octopuses." The Greek root pod-, indicating "of the feet" has given us "podiatry" and "podium," among others. Its Latin equivalent, "pes, pedis" is also the origin of many words, including "pedicure," "pedal" and "pedestrian."
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