wormhole

English

Alternative forms

• worm-hole
• worme-hole (obsolete)

Etymology

worm +‎ hole. In the scientific sense, introduced by John Archibald Wheeler.

Noun

wormhole (plural wormholes)

1. a hole burrowed by a worm
   • 1593, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece

     To fill with worme-holes stately monuments.

2. (relativity) A hypothetical shortcut between two points in spacetime, permitting faster-than-light travel and sometimes time travel.
3. (programming, slang) A location in a monitor program containing the address of a routine, allowing the user to substitute different functionality.

Synonyms

• (a spacetime construct): Einstein-Rosen bridge

Related terms

• (a spacetime construct): black hole, white hole

Translations

a hole burrowed by a worm

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蟲洞 (zh), 虫洞 (zh) (chóngdòng)

• Finnish: madonreikä
• French: trou de ver (fr) m
• German: Wurmloch (de) n
• Irish: poll péiste m
• Macedonian: црвоточина f (crvotóčina)

• Portuguese: buraco de minhoca m
• Russian: червото́чина (ru) f (červotóčina)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: црвоточина f

  Roman: crvotočina (sh) f

• Spanish: agujero de gusano m

a shortcut between distant parts of space

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蟲洞 (zh), 虫洞 (zh) (chóngdòng), 蛀孔 (zh) (zhùkǒng), 蠹孔 (dùkǒng)

• Czech: červí díra f
• Finnish: madonreikä
• French: trou de ver (fr) m
• German: Wurmloch (de) n
• Hebrew: חור תולעת / חֹר תּוֹלַעַת‎‎ (he) m (khor toláat)
• Hungarian: féreglyuk (hu)
• Italian: cunicolo (it) m
• Japanese: ワームホール (wāmuhōru)

• Macedonian: црвоточина f (crvotóčina)
• Polish: tunel czasoprzestrzenny m
• Portuguese: buraco de minhoca m
• Russian: крото́вая нора́ f (krotóvaja norá) (mole hole), крото́вина (ru) f (krotóvina), червото́чина (ru) f (červotóčina)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: црвоточина f

  Roman: crvotočina (sh) f

• Spanish: agujero de gusano m
• Swedish: maskhål n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ჭიანაჭამი (č̣ianač̣ami)

Verb

wormhole (third-person singular simple present wormholes, present participle wormholing, simple past and past participle wormholed)

1. (transitive) To make porous or permeable through the formation of small holes or tunnels.