Pedalis

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. An anatomical term referring to a structure related to the foot or its functions
2. a descriptor for actions involving the feet or movements using the feet
3. an adjective relating to devices or mechanisms operated by foot movements

Etymology: Latin "pedalis" means "a foot long" or "relating to the foot," built from "pes" (genitive "pedis"), the Latin word for foot, plus the adjectival suffix "-alis," which marks something as belonging to or characterized by a thing. The foot itself is the root of many English words, from "pedestrian" to "pedal," and "pedalis" sits among them as the adjective that describes measurements and things tied to the foot. The word's most notable use in English is technical. Botanists and zoologists use "pedal" to describe parts that rest on or grow from a stalk or foot-like base, and in mathematics and anatomy it names structures defined by the foot or footlike shape. Because it is a Latin adjective kept largely in specialist writing, it is less common in everyday speech than its relative "pedal," the lever worked by the foot.