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 (UK) (file)
(General American) enPR: kăv'ərn, IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.ɚn/, /ˈkæv.ɹən/
Rhymes: -ævə(ɹ)n

Noun

cavern (plural caverns)

A large cave.
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 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.
A large, dark place or space.
a dark cavern of a shop

Derived terms

cavernicolous
cavernlike
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
Ido: kaverno (io)
Latgalian: ola f
Latin: caverna f, antrum n, specus m
Middle English: caverne
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. 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)

(transitive) To form a cavern or deep depression in.
catacombs caverning the hillsides
Synonym: hollow
(transitive) To put into a cavern.

References

“cavern”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
“cavern”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Anagrams

Craven, carven, craven