• sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      20 days ago

      Sorry to rain on the parade… but ya’ll know that the prefix indicating something pertains to the foot or ankle is pod-, right?

      Podiatry. Podiatrist.

      Ped- refers to children.

      Pediatrician. Pediatrics.

        • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zipEnglish
          1·
          20 days ago

          So I looked into this a bit and…

          it appears to be based on whether a word is using Latin or Greek as its etymological basis, for words pertaining to feet.

          In Latin… it is ped-… but in Greek… it is pod-.

          … And, you are correct, English has a mish mash of both.

          But also, a lot of English words referring to children use the Greek derived ped- or pedo- to refer to… children.

          …Which is why in British English, the spelling ‘paed-’ is used, to minimize this confusion.

          But us clever Americans dropped that, rofl.