cavern

English

Etymology

From Middle English caverne, borrowing from Old French caverne, from Latin caverna (“hollow, cavity, cave”), from cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: kăv'ən, IPA^(key): /ˈkav.ən/, /ˈkav.n̩/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: kăv'ərn, IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.ɚn/, /ˈkæv.ɹən/
• 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: […] John Murray, […], by William Bulmer and Co. […], published 1816, →OCLC, 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.

3. A large, dark place or space.

   a dark cavern of a shop

Derived terms

• cavernful
• cavernicolous
• cavernitis
• cavernlike
• cavernoma
• cavernous
• incaverned
• mesocavern

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
• Guaraní: yvykua
• Hungarian: kaverna (hu)
• Ido: kaverno (io)
• Latgalian: ola f
• Latin: caverna f, antrum n, specus m
• Middle English: caverne
• Occitan: balma (oc) f
• 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)
• Slovene: jama (sl) f, jama (sl)
• 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: bergrum n (blasted), grottrum (natural), grottkammare (natural), jordkula (sv) c (dwelling, usually)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. 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.

   Synonyms: hollow, cave

   catacombs caverning the hillsides

2. (transitive) To put into a cavern.

References

• “cavern”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “cavern”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

Anagrams

• Craven, carven, craven