cavity

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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
3. (engineering, manufacturing) The female part of a mold: the depression itself or (metonymically) the half of the mold that contains it.
  Coordinate term: core
(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

See also Thesaurus:hole

Derived terms

Compound words and expressions

Related terms

Translations

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)
Korean: 구멍 (ko) (gumeong)
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) (xoṙočʻ)
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 (hu)
Irish: cuas m, cuasán m
Italian: cavità (it) f
Japanese: 腔 (ja) (こう, kō)
Korean: 강(腔) (ko) (gang), 공동(空洞) (ko) (gongdong)
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)
Esperanto: kario
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
Korean: 충치(蟲齒) (chungchi)
Lao: please add this translation if you can
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
Thai: ฟันผุ

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

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