caverna

From Latin caverna.

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caverna f (plural cavernes)

1. cavern

• cavernós

• “caverna”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “caverna”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2026
• “caverna” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “caverna” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Latin caverna.

• IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛr.na/
• Rhymes: -ɛrna
• Hyphenation: ca‧vèr‧na

caverna f (plural caverne)

1. cave, cavern

• cavernoso

• caverna in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• cavarne

From cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kaˈwɛr.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈvɛr.na]

caverna f (genitive cavernae); first declension

1. a hollow, cavity, cave, cavern, grotto, hole
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 8.420:

     striduntque cauernis / stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat

     Chalybian ores hiss in the caverns, and from the furnace mouths puff the hot-panting fires

   • Geoffrey of Monmouth, Prophesies of Merlin:

     Vae rubeo draconi; nam exterminatio eius festinat. Cavernas ipsius occupabit albus draco, qui Saxones quos invitasti significat.

     Woe to the red dragon; for his doom hastens. The white dragon, which represents the Saxons whom you invited, will seize his caves.

   1. a vault, chamber, cleft of heaven
   2. a hold (cargo compartment of a ship)
   3. (vulgar, euphemistic) bodily orifice
      • c. 310 CE – c. 394 CE, Ausonius, Epigrams 79 Subscriptum Picturae Mulieris impudicae:

        Crispa tamen cunctas exercet corpore in uno: deglubit, fellat, molitur per utramque cavernam, ne quid inexpertum frustra moritura relinquat.

        Crispa, however, practises them all with one body: she masturbates, fellates, and is worked at either hole, lest she should die in vain leaving anything untried.

First-declension noun.

• cavernātim (adverb)
• cavernō (verb)
• cavernōsus (adjective)
• cavernula (diminutive)

• “caverna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caverna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “caverna”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

• Hyphenation: ca‧ver‧na

Borrowed from Latin caverna.

caverna f (plural cavernas)

1. cave
2. (nautical) rib (part of a ship’s framework)

   Synonym: costela

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

caverna

1. inflection of cavernar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “caverna”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “caverna”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

caverna f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of cavernă

Borrowed from Latin caverna.^[1] Cognate with English cavern.

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeɾna/ [kaˈβ̞eɾ.na]
• Rhymes: -eɾna
• Syllabification: ca‧ver‧na

caverna f (plural cavernas)

1. cavern

• “caverna”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025