cavern

English

Etymology

From Middle English caverne, from Old French caverne, from Latin caverna, from cavus (“hollow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kăv'ən, IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.ən/
• (General American) enPR: kăv'ərn, IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.ɚn/
• Rhymes: -ævə(ɹ)n

Noun

cavern (plural caverns)

1. A large cave.
2. An underground chamber.
   • 1797, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “Kubla Khan: Or A Vision in a Dream”, in Christabel: Kubla Khan, a Vision: The Pains of Sleep, London: Printed for John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, OCLC 1380031, page 55:

     In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.

Derived terms

• cavernous

Translations

large cave

• Bulgarian: пещера (bg) f (peštera)
• Catalan: caverna f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大山洞 (dà shāndòng)

• Dutch: grot (nl) f, krocht (nl) f, hol (nl) n
• Esperanto: kaverno
• Finnish: luola (fi)
• French: caverne (fr) f, grotte (fr) f
• German: große Höhle (de) f, Grotte (de) f
• Ido: kaverno (io)

• Latgalian: ola f
• Latin: caverna f, antrum n, specus m
• Ojibwe: waazh, waanzh
• Plautdietsch: Heel f
• Polish: jaskinia (pl) f
• Portuguese: caverna (pt) f
• Romanian: cavernă (ro) f, peșteră (ro) f, grotă (ro) f
• Russian: пеще́ра (ru) f (peščéra), грот (ru) m (grot)

  Ancient: गुहा f

• Spanish: caverna (es) f
• Swedish: grotta (sv) c
• Turkish: büyük mağara (tr)

underground chamber

• Bulgarian: пещерна зала (pešterna zala)
• Catalan: caverna f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 地下深處, 地下深处 (dìxià shēnchù)

• Finnish: luola (fi)
• German: (manmade) Kaverne (de) f

• Latgalian: ola f, zamzemis ola f
• Latin: caverna f
• Portuguese: caverna (pt) f
• Russian: каве́рна (ru) f (kavérna)
• Spanish: caverna (es) f
• Swedish: jordkula (sv) c

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} cuasán m, ^{(please verify)} fotholl m, ^{(please verify)} polladh m

Verb

cavern (third-person singular simple present caverns, present participle caverning, simple past and past participle caverned)

1. (transitive) To form a cavern or deep depression in.

   catacombs caverning the hillsides

2. (transitive) To put into a cavern.

Anagrams

• Craven, carven, craven