wormhole

wormhole

English

Alternative forms

• worm-hole
• worme-hole (obsolete)

Etymology

worm +‎ hole. In the scientific sense, introduced by John Archibald Wheeler.

Pronunciation

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Noun

wormhole (plural wormholes)

1. A hole burrowed by a worm.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], OCLC 236076664:

     To fill with worme-holes stately monuments.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 36:

     But he had no sooner got through the worm-hole, than the lad put a small peg in the hole.

2. (relativity) A hypothetical shortcut between two points in spacetime, permitting faster-than-light travel and sometimes time travel.
3. (programming, slang) A location in a monitor program containing the address of a routine, allowing the user to substitute different functionality.

Synonyms

• (a spacetime construct): Einstein-Rosen bridge

Related terms

• (a spacetime construct): black hole, white hole

Translations

a hole burrowed by a worm

Chinese: Mandarin: 蟲洞／虫洞 (zh) (chóngdòng) Finnish: madonreikä French: trou de ver (fr) m German: Wurmloch (de) n Irish: poll péiste m Macedonian: црвоточина f (crvotočina) Russian: червото́чина (ru) f (červotóčina) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: црвото̀чина f Roman: crvotòčina (sh) f Spanish: agujero de gusano m Swedish: maskhål (sv) n

a shortcut between distant parts of space

Arabic: ثَقْب دُودِيّ‎ m (ṯaqb dūdiyy), مَمَرّ دُودِيّ‎ m (mamarr dūdiyy) Basque: zizare zulo Catalan: forat de cuc m Chinese: Mandarin: 蟲洞／虫洞 (zh) (chóngdòng), 蛀孔 (zh) (zhùkǒng), 蠹孔 (dùkǒng) Czech: červí díra f Finnish: madonreikä French: trou de ver (fr) m German: Wurmloch (de) n Hebrew: חור תולעת / חֹר תּוֹלַעַת‎ (he) m (khor toláat) Hungarian: féreglyuk (hu) Irish: poll péiste m Italian: cunicolo (it) m Japanese: ワームホール (wāmuhōru) Korean: 웜홀 (womhol) Macedonian: црвоточина f (crvotočina) Polish: tunel czasoprzestrzenny m Portuguese: buraco de verme m, buraco de minhoca m (Brazil), fenda espacial f, túnel espacial m Russian: крото́вая нора́ f (krotóvaja norá) (mole hole), крото́вина (ru) f (krotóvina), червото́чина (ru) f (červotóčina) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: црвото̀чина f Roman: crvotòčina (sh) f Spanish: agujero de gusano m Swedish: maskhål (sv) n Turkish: solucan deliği Vietnamese: lỗ sâu, lỗ giun

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

Georgian: (please verify) ჭიანაჭამი (č̣ianač̣ami)

Verb

wormhole (third-person singular simple present wormholes, present participle wormholing, simple past and past participle wormholed)

1. (transitive) To make porous or permeable through the formation of small holes or tunnels.