cavity

English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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

Pronunciation[edit]

IPA^(key): /ˈkæv.ɪt.i/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈkʰæv.ɨɾ.i]
Rhymes: -ævɪti

Noun[edit]

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[edit]

See also Thesaurus:hole

Derived terms[edit]

Compound words and expressions

Related terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

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[edit]

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