wormhole

English

Alternative forms

• worm-hole
• worme-hole (obsolete)

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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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.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 36:

     But he had no sooner got through the worm-hole, than the lad put a small peg in the hole.

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 (crvotočina)

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

  Cyrillic: црвото̀чина f

  Roman: crvotòčina (sh) f

• Spanish: agujero de gusano m

a shortcut between distant parts of space

• Arabic: ثَقْب دُودِيّ‎ m (ṯaqb dūdiyy), مَمَرّ دُودِيّ‎ m (mamarr dūdiyy)
• Basque: zizare zulo
• Catalan: forat de cuc m
• 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)
• Irish: poll péiste m
• Italian: cunicolo (it) m

• Japanese: ワームホール (wāmuhōru)
• Korean: 웜홀 (womhol)
• Macedonian: црвоточина f (crvotočina)
• 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: црвото̀чина f

  Roman: crvotòčina (sh) f

• Spanish: agujero de gusano m
• Swedish: maskhål n
• Vietnamese: lỗ sâu, lỗ giun

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.