cavity

English

Etymology

Mid 16th century borrowing from Middle French cavité or Late Latin cavitās, from cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”) +‎ -tās (“-ity”, nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.ɪt.i/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈkʰæv.ɨɾ.i]
• Rhymes: -ævɪti

Noun

cavity (plural cavities)

1. A hole or hollow depression in a solid object.

   Hyponyms: microcavity, minicavity, nanocavity

   1. (anatomy) A hollow area within the body.

      Hyponyms: abdominal cavity, body cavity, buccal cavity, chest cavity, endocavity, exocoelomic cavity, haemal cavity, nasal cavity, oral cavity, orbital cavity, pleural cavity, thoracic cavity, tympanic cavity

   3. (engineering, manufacturing) The female part of a mold: the depression itself or (metonymically) the half of the mold that contains it.

      Coordinate term: core

2. (dentistry) A small or large hole in a tooth caused by caries; often also a soft area adjacent to the hole also affected by caries.

   Synonym: caries

   Jim got two cavities filled at the dentist's office yesterday.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:hole

Derived terms

• anticavity
• cavitand
• cavitation
• cavitied
• cavityless
• intracavity, intracavital
• multicavity
• subcavity

 

Compound words and expressions

• body cavity search
• cavity quantum electrodynamics
• cavity resonator
• cavity wall
• cotyloid cavity
• microwave resonant cavity thruster

 

Related terms

• cave
• cavitary
• cavitate
• concave
• excavate, excavation, excavator

 

Translations

hole or hollow depression

• Armenian: խորշ (hy) (xorš)
• Bashkir: соҡор (soqor)
• Bulgarian: дупка (bg) f (dupka), вдлъбнатина (bg) f (vdlǎbnatina)
• Catalan: cavitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 孔穴 (zh) (kǒngxué, (Taiwan) kǒngxuè), 空腔 (zh) (kōngqiāng)

• Czech: dutina (cs) f
• Egyptian: (qrrt f)
• Galician: cavidade (gl) f
• German: Hohlraum (de), Gravur (de), Aushöhlung, Loch (de)
• Greek: τρύπα (el) n (trýpa)

  Ancient: κοίλωμα n (koílōma)

• Hebrew: חור (he) m (khor)
• Hungarian: üreg (hu), odú (hu), lyuk (hu), mélyedés (hu)
• Italian: cavità (it) f, alveolo (it) m, incavo (it) m
• Japanese: 空洞 (ja) (くうどう, kūdō)
• Latgalian: dūbs
• Latin: lacūna (la) f
• Latvian: dobums m
• Manx: towl m
• Maori: pakohu, arearenga
• Plautdietsch: Hollinj f
• Polish: wydrążenie n, dziura (pl) f
• Portuguese: cavidade (pt)
• Romanian: cavitate (ro) f, gaură (ro) f
• Russian: впа́дина (ru) f (vpádina), дыра́ (ru) f (dyrá), я́ма (ru) f (jáma)
• Spanish: cavidad (es) f
• Volapük: kev (vo)
• Welsh: ceudod (cy) m or f

hollow area within the body

• Afrikaans: holte, liggaamsholte
• Armenian: խոռոչ (hy) (xoṙočʻ)
• Azerbaijani: boşluq (az)
• Bashkir: ҡыуыш (qıwış)
• Bulgarian: кухина (bg) f (kuhina)
• Catalan: cavitat (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 腔 (zh) (qiāng)

• Czech: dutina (cs) f
• German: Höhle (de) f, Hohlraum (de) m
• Greek: κοιλότητα (el) f (koilótita)

  Ancient: νηδύς f (nēdús)

• Hebrew: חָלָל (he) m (ḥalál)
• Hungarian: üreg (hu), testüreg (hu)
• Irish: cuas m, cuasán m
• Italian: cavità (it) f
• Japanese: 腔 (ja) (こう, kō)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: kelên (ku) f

• Latin: cavea f
• Latvian: dobums m
• Portuguese: cavidade (pt) f
• Russian: по́лость (ru) f (pólostʹ)
• Spanish: cavidad (es) f
• Volapük: kevil
• Welsh: ceudod (cy) m or f

hole and soft area in tooth caused by caries

• Bulgarian: кариес m (karies)
• Catalan: càries (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蟲牙／虫牙 (zh) (chóngyá)

• Dutch: gaatje (nl), gat (nl)
• Esperanto: kario
• Finnish: hammasreikä, reikä (fi), karies (fi), hammasmätä (fi)
• French: carie (fr) f
• German: Karies (de) f, Loch (de) n (colloquial)
• Greek: κουφάλα (el) f (koufála)

  Ancient: βρῶμα n (brôma)

• Hebrew: עַשֶּׁשֶׁת (he) f ('ashéshet)
• Hungarian: lyuk (hu), foglyuk
• Inuktitut: ᐊᐅᓂᖅ (aoniq)
• Italian: carie (it) f
• Japanese: 虫歯 (ja) (mushiba)
• Kapampangan: busbus ipan
• Lao: please add this translation if you can
• Malay: kaviti
• Malayalam: പോട് (ml) (pōṭŭ)
• Polish: ubytek (pl) m
• Portuguese: cárie (pt) f
• Russian: ка́риес (ru) m (kárijes)
• Spanish: caries (es) f
• Swedish: karies (sv), tandröta (sv), hål (sv) n
• Thai: ฟันผุ

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

• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 虫歯 (ja) (mushiba)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 굿 (ko) (gut)

References

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

Further reading

• “cavity”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “cavity”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “cavity”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.