Meaning

noun an animal especially a mammal having four limbs specialized for walking

adjective having four feet

originEtymology tree Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóresder. Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥- Proto-Italic *kʷetru- Proto-Indo-European *ped- Proto-Indo-European *-s Proto-Indo-European *pṓds Proto-Italic *pets Proto-Italic *kʷetrupōts Latin quadrupedembor. French quadrupèdebor. English quadruped Borrowed from French quadrupède, from Middle French, from Latin stem of quadrupēs (“four-footed, a four-footed…

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0