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)

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
(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
body cavity search
cavitand
cavitation
cavitied
cavityless
cavity quantum electrodynamics
cavity resonator
cavity wall
cotyloid cavity
intracavital
intracavity
microwave resonant cavity thruster
multicavity
subcavity

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) (xoṙočʿ)
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
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)
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
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

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