interstice

English

WOTD – 7 September 2015

Etymology

Old French interstice, from Latin interstitium.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɜː.stɪs/

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ɪnˈtɚ.stɪs/

Noun

interstice (plural interstices)

1. A small opening or space between objects, especially adjacent objects or objects set closely together, as between cords in a rope or components of a multiconductor electrical cable or between atoms in a crystal.
2. (figurative) A fragment of space.
   • 2013 August 14, Simon Jenkins, “Gibraltar and the Falklands deny the logic of history”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 10 August 2014:

     Relics of the British empire now mostly survive in the interstices of the global economy. They are the major winners from the fiscal haemorrhage that has resulted from financial globalisation.

3. An interval of time required by the Roman Catholic Church between the attainment of different degrees of an order.
4. (by extension) A small interval of time free to be spent on activities other than one's primary goal.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:interstice.

Synonyms

• (small opening or space between objects): chink, crack, cranny, crevice, fissure, gap, slit; see also Thesaurus:interspace or Thesaurus:hole

Derived terms

• interstitial

Translations

small opening or space

• Bulgarian: междина (bg) f (meždina)
• Catalan: interstici m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Dutch: tussenruimte (nl) c, opening (nl) c
• Esperanto: interspaco
• Finnish: väli (fi), rako (fi)
• French: interstice (fr) m
• Occitan: interstici m
• Romanian: interstițiu (ro) n
• Russian: зазо́р (ru) m (zazór), промежу́ток (ru) m (promežútok), (crevice) расще́лина (ru) f (rasščélina)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar-fhosgladh m
• Spanish: intersticio (es) m
• Swedish: mellanrum (sv) n, springa (sv) c, glipa (sv) c

fragment of space

• Bulgarian: промеждутък (bg) m (promeždutǎk)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: rakonen

Roman Catholicism: interval between attainment of different degrees of an order

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: odotusaika (fi)

small interval of time

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Finnish: väli (fi), rako (fi), tauko (fi)
• Russian: (временно́й (vremennój)) промежу́ток (ru) m (promežútok)

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

• Spanish: intersticio (es) m

Further reading

• “interstice”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “interstice”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɛ̃.tɛʁ.stis/

Noun

interstice m (plural interstices)

1. (religion) interstice
2. gap, interval

Derived terms

• interstitiel

Further reading

• “interstice”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.