octopus

UK: /ˈɒktəpəs/ US: /ˈɑktəpəs/ ,(ok′tə pəs)

Inflections of 'octopus' (n):

octopuses

npl

octopi

npl

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

oc•to•pus /ˈɑktəpəs/   n. [countable] , pl. -pus•es, -pi 

/-ˌpaɪ/.  
1. Invertebrates a sea creature having a soft, oval body and eight tentacles with suckers on them.
2. something like an octopus, as an organization having many branches.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

oc•to•pus  (ok′tə pəs), n., pl. -pus•es, -pi 

(-pī′). 
1. Invertebrates any octopod of the genus Octopus, having a soft, oval body and eight sucker-bearing arms, living mostly at the bottom of the sea.
2. something likened to an octopus, as an organization with many forms of far-reaching influence or control.

• Greek októ̄pous (plural októ̄podes) eight-footed; see octo-, -pod
• Neo-Latin
• 1750–60

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

octopus / ˈɒktəpəs/ noun ( -puses)

1. any cephalopod mollusc of the genera Octopus, Eledone, etc, having a soft oval body with eight long suckered tentacles and occurring at the sea bottom: order Octopoda (octopods)
2. a powerful influential organization with far-reaching effects, esp harmful ones
3. another name for spider8

Etymology: 18th Century: via New Latin from Greek oktōpous having eight feet