English

heelwalker

Compound of heel + walker, from the fact that these insects have a habit of walking with the tips of their feet held up in the air.

A compound of heel + walker

Proto-Indo-European *kenk- ‘to feel hunger’

…

Proto-Germanic *hanhilaz ‘heel (of the foot)’

Proto-West Germanic *hą̄hilō

Old English hēla ‘heel (of the foot)’

Middle English hele

English heel

Middle English walkere ‘one who walks’

The story

Compound of heel + walker, from the fact that these insects have a habit of walking with the tips of their feet held up in the air.

noun Any of the order Mantophasmatodea of carnivorous, wingless insects that superficially resemble a cross between praying mantises and phasmids.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / heelwalker