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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

octopus

/ˈɒktəpʊs/
Any of several marine molluscs of the order Octopoda, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.

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    Origin

    The English word octopus was borrowed from Latin octōpūs, which was itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους. This Greek form is a combination of ὀκτώ, meaning “eight,” and πούς, meaning “foot.” It is a piecewise doublet of octopod and octopede.

    Within the Greek components, ὀκτώ was inherited from Proto-Hellenic *oktṓ, which was inherited from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw. This Proto-Indo-European form derives from *ǵónu, meaning “knee.”

    The second component, Greek πούς, derives from Proto-Indo-European *pṓds, meaning “foot.” This reconstructed form is composed of the root *ped- (“to step, walk; to fall, stumble”) and the element *-s.

    Confidence: high · written by gemma4:26b, checked statement-by-statement against the sources below.

    Lineage

    • borrowedLatinoctōpūs
      • borrowedAncient Greekὀκτώπους
        • partAncient Greekὀκτώ “eight”
          • inheritedProto-Hellenic*oktṓ
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*oḱtṓw “eight”
              • derivedProto-Indo-European*ǵónu “knee”
        • partAncient Greekπούς “foot”
          • derivedProto-Indo-European*pṓds “foot”
            • partProto-Indo-European*ped- “to step, walk; to fall, stumble”
            • partProto-Indo-European*-s
    Wiktionary etymology text

    Borrowed from Latin octōpūs, from Ancient Greek ὀκτώπους (oktṓpous), from ὀκτώ (oktṓ, “eight”) + πούς (poús, “foot”). Piecewise doublet of octopod and octopede.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Meanings

    noun
    1. Any of several marine molluscs of the order Octopoda, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid and cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.
    2. A mollusc from genus Octopus.
    3. The flesh of these marine molluscs eaten as food.
    4. An organization that has many powerful branches controlled from the centre.
    5. An instance of a player scoring a touchdown immediately followed by a successful two-point conversion, resulting in a total score of eight points.
    6. A safety device allowing divers to share an air supply in an emergency.
    verb
    1. To put (or attempt to put) one's fingers, hands or arms in many things or places at roughly the same time.
    2. To spread out in long arms or legs in many directions.
    3. To plug a large number of devices into a single electric outlet.
    4. To grow in use vastly beyond what was originally intended.
    5. To hunt and catch octopuses.
    6. To behave like an octopus.

    Sources

    • etymagent (local gemma4:26b) — Generated
    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: octopus