cloaca

See also: cloacă and clóáca

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), from cluō (“cleanse; purge”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kləʊˈeɪkə/
• IPA^(key): /kloʊˈeɪkə/
• Rhymes: -eɪkə

Noun

cloaca (plural cloacas or cloacae)

1. (sometimes figurative) A sewer.
   • 1773, Gentleman's Magazine, No. 43, p. 598:

     The Thames, polluted with the filthy effusions of the cloacae.

   • 1850, Thomas Carlyle, Latter-day Pamphlets, Ch. iv, p. 46:
   • […] that tremendous cloaca of Pauperism […]
2. (zoology) The duct in reptiles, amphibians and birds, as well as most fish and some mammals, which serves as the common outlet for urination, defecation, and reproduction.
   • 1822, John Mason Good, The Study of Medicine, Vol. I, p. 7:

     In birds the rectum, at the termination of its canal, forms an oval or elongated pouch […] and then expands into a cavity, which has been named cloaca.

3. An outhouse or lavatory.
   • 1840, Frederick Marryat, Olla Podrida, Ch. xxiv:

     To every house […] a cloaca.

4. (anatomy) A duct through which gangrenous material escapes a body.
   • 1846, Frederick Brittan translating Joseph François Malgaigne as Manual of Operative Surgery, p. 172

     Across this shell [sc. of bone] small holes are eaten, by which the matter escapes, and which are called cloacae (Weidmann).

Synonyms

• (sewer): See sewer
• (outhouse or lavatory): See Thesaurus:bathroom

Derived terms

• cloacal
• persistent cloaca

Translations

anatomical feature of birds etc

• Bulgarian: клоа́ка (bg) f (kloáka)
• Catalan: cloaca f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泄殖腔 (zh) (xièzhíqiāng)

• Czech: kloaka (cs) f
• Dutch: cloaca (nl) f
• Esperanto: kloako
• Estonian: kloaak
• Finnish: kloaakki (fi)
• French: cloaque (fr) m
• German: Kloake (de) f
• Haitian Creole: kloak
• Hebrew: בִּיב (he) m (biv)
• Hungarian: kloáka
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: clóáca m
• Italian: cloaca (it) f, fogna (it) f
• Japanese: 総排出腔 (そうはいしゅつこう, sōhaishutsukō, そうはいしゅつくう, sōhaishutsukū), 排出腔 (はいしゅつこう, haishutsukō, はいしゅつくう, haishutsukū)
• Macedonian: клоака f (kloaka)
• Portuguese: cloaca (pt) f
• Romanian: cloacă (ro) f
• Russian: клоа́ка (ru) f (kloáka)
• Spanish: cloaca f
• Swahili: kiloaka
• Swedish: kloaköppning c
• Vietnamese: huyệt (vi), lỗ huyệt

---

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloaca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌkloːˈaː.kaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: clo‧a‧ca

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloaca's)

1. (zoology) cloaca (duct in certain vertebrates used for reproduction and excreting digestive waste)

Derived terms

• cloacadier

---

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloaca. Cognate to the inherited doublet chiavica.

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloache)

1. sewer
2. cesspit, cesspool
3. (anatomy) cloaca

---

Latin

Etymology

From cluō (“cleanse”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kloˈaː.ka/, [kɫ̪oˈäːkä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kloˈa.ka/, [kloˈäːkä]

Noun

cloāca f (genitive cloācae); first declension

1. A sewer or underground drain
2. (humorous) The stomach of a drunken or voracious woman

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	cloāca	cloācae
Genitive	cloācae	cloācārum
Dative	cloācae	cloācīs
Accusative	cloācam	cloācās
Ablative	cloācā	cloācīs
Vocative	cloāca	cloācae

Derived terms

• cloācālis
• cloācārium
• cloācula

Descendants

• Danish: kloak
• English: cloaca
• French: cloaque
• Italian: cloaca, chiavica

• Portuguese: cloaca
• Romanian: cloacă
• Spanish: cloaca

References

• “cloaca”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cloaca”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• cloaca in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “cloaca”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cloaca”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

---

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloaca.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -aka

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloacas)

1. (anatomy) cloaca (excretory and genital duct in bird, reptiles and fish)

---

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin cloāca (“sewer”), from cluō (“cleanse”).

Noun

cloaca f (plural cloacas)

1. sewer, storm drain
2. (zoology) cloaca