lacuna

English

WOTD – 30 July 2008    

Etymology

From Latin lacūna (“ditch, gap”), diminutive form of lacus (“lake”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ləˈkjuː.nə/
• (US) IPA: /ləˈkuː.nə/, /ləˈkjuː.nə/

• Audio (US)

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  Audio (US)

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Noun

lacuna (plural lacunae or lacunas)

1. A small opening; a small pit or depression; a small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
2. An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.
3. (microscopy) A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
4. (linguistics) A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language

Synonyms

• hiatus
• gap

Derived terms

• lacunal
• lacunary

Translations

in linguistics

• Spanish: laguna léxica f

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Italian

Pronunciation

• lacùna
• IPA: /laˈkuna/

Noun

lacuna f (plural lacune)

1. gap
2. blank (space)
3. lapse (of memory)

Anagrams

• alcuna
• lucana

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Latin

Etymology

From lacus (“basin, tub”).

Noun

lacūna (genitive lacūnae); f, first declension

1. a hole, pit
2. an opening, cavity, hollow, cleft
3. a gap, void, defect

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	lacūna	lacūnae
genitive	lacūnae	lacūnārum
dative	lacūnae	lacūnīs
accusative	lacūnam	lacūnās
ablative	lacūnā	lacūnīs
vocative	lacūna	lacūnae

Related terms

• lacus

Descendants

• English: lacuna
• French: lacune
• Italian: lacuna
• Portuguese: lagoa, lacuna (borrowing)
• Russian: лакуна
• Spanish: laguna