cloaca

See also: cloacă and clóáca

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), from cluō (“cleanse; purge”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kləʊˈeɪkə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /kloʊˈeɪkə/
• Rhymes: -eɪkə

Noun

cloaca (plural cloacas or cloacae)

1. (sometimes figurative) A sewer.
   • 1773, Gentleman's Magazine, number 43, page 598:

     The Thames, polluted with the filthy effusions of the cloacae.

   • 1850, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IV, in Latter-day Pamphlets, page 46:
   • […] that tremendous cloaca of Pauperism […]
   • 1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 266:

     After working an hour, I began to speculate on the distance one had to go before the cloaca was reached the chances we had of missing it altogether.

2. (zoology) The duct in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as fish and some mammals, which serves as the common outlet for urination, defecation, and reproduction.
   • 1822, John Mason Good, The Study of Medicine, volume I, page 7:

     In birds the rectum, at the termination of its canal, forms an oval or elongated pouch […] and then expands into a cavity, which has been named cloaca.

3. An outhouse or lavatory.
   • 1840, Frederick Marryat, chapter XXIV, in Olla Podrida:

     To every house […] a cloaca.

   • 1880, William Blades, The Enemies of Books, page 55:

     Only think of that cloaca being supplied daily with such dainty bibliographical treasures!

4. (anatomy) A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.
   • 1846, Joseph François Malgaigne, translated by Frederick Brittan, Manual of Operative Surgery, page 172:

     Across this shell [sc. of bone] small holes are eaten, by which the matter escapes, and which are called cloacae (Weidmann).

Synonyms

• (sewer): See sewer
• (duct): See vent
• (outhouse or lavatory): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

• cloacal
• cloacinal
• cloacitis
• persistent cloaca

 

Translations

anatomical feature of birds etc

• Bulgarian: клоа́ка (bg) f (kloáka)
• Catalan: cloaca f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泄殖腔 (zh) (xièzhíqiāng)

• Czech: kloaka (cs) f
• Dutch: cloaca (nl) f
• Esperanto: kloako
• Estonian: kloaak
• Finnish: kloaakki (fi)
• French: cloaque (fr) m
• German: Kloake (de) f
• Greek: αμάρα (el) f (amára)
• Haitian Creole: kloak
• Hebrew: בִּיב (he) m (biv)
• Hungarian: kloáka (hu)
• Ido: kloako (io)
• Irish: clóáca m
• Italian: cloaca (it) f, fogna (it) f
• Japanese: 総排出腔 (そうはいしゅつこう, sōhaishutsukō, そうはいしゅつくう, sōhaishutsukū), 排出腔 (はいしゅつこう, haishutsukō, はいしゅつくう, haishutsukū)
• Macedonian: клоака f (kloaka)
• Portuguese: cloaca (pt) f
• Romanian: cloacă (ro) f
• Russian: клоа́ка (ru) f (kloáka)
• Spanish: cloaca (es) f
• Swahili: kiloaka
• Swedish: kloaköppning (sv) c
• Vietnamese: huyệt (vi), lỗ huyệt

See also

• monotreme

Anagrams

• Caloca

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloaca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkloːˈaː.kaː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: clo‧a‧ca

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloaca's)

1. (zoology) cloaca (duct in certain vertebrates used for reproduction and excreting digestive waste)

Derived terms

• cloacadier

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloaca. Cognate to the inherited doublet chiavica.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kloˈa.ka/
• Rhymes: -aka
• Hyphenation: clo‧à‧ca

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloache)

1. sewer
2. cesspit, cesspool
3. (anatomy) cloaca

Derived terms

• cloacale

Further reading

• cloaca in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Latin

Alternative forms

• clovāca, cluāca (Late Republican)
• coācla, covācla (metathesis, proscribed)
• clāvaca, clābaca (later metathesis)

Etymology

From cluō (“cleanse”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /kloˈaː.ka/, [kɫ̪oˈäːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kloˈa.ka/, [kloˈäːkä]

Noun

cloāca f (genitive cloācae); first declension

1. An underground drain, sewer.
   1. (humorous) Of the mouth and intestines of a voracious person.

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cloāca	cloācae
Genitive	cloācae	cloācārum
Dative	cloācae	cloācīs
Accusative	cloācam	cloācās
Ablative	cloācā	cloācīs
Vocative	cloāca	cloācae

Derived terms

• cloācula
• cloācālis
• cloācārium
• Cloācīna

 

Descendants

• Italian: chiavica
  • Tuscan, Umbrian: chiòca, chiòvina, chiòdina, chiòcana
• Neapolitan: chiaveca
• Portuguese: colaga (“alley”)
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *clavacaria
  • Catalan: claveguera
• → Catalan: cloaca
• → Danish: kloak
• → English: cloaca
• → French: cloaque
• → German: Kloake
• → Irish: clóáca
• → Italian: cloaca
• → Portuguese: cloaca
• → Romanian: cloacă
• → Spanish: cloaca
• Translingual: Enterobacter cloacae

References

• “cloaca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cloaca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cloaca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “cloaca”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cloaca”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloaca.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kloˈa.kɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kloˈa.kɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /kloˈa.ka/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kluˈa.kɐ/, (faster pronunciation) /ˈklwa.kɐ/

• Rhymes: -akɐ
• Hyphenation: clo‧a‧ca

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloacas)

1. (anatomy) cloaca (excretory and genital duct in bird, reptiles and fish)

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈklo̯aka]

Noun

cloaca f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of cloacă

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), from cluō (“cleanse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kloˈaka/ [kloˈa.ka]
• Rhymes: -aka
• Syllabification: clo‧a‧ca

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloacas)

1. sewer, storm drain
2. (zoology) cloaca

Derived terms

• cloacal
• rata de cloaca

 

Further reading

• “cloaca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014