caverna

See also: cavērna and cavernă

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin caverna.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Barcelona):

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Noun

caverna f (plural cavernes)

1. cavern

Related terms

• cavernós

Further reading

• “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.
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “caverna”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Italian

Etymology

From Latin caverna.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

caverna f (plural caverne)

1. cave, cavern

Related terms

• cavernoso

Further reading

• “caverna”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026

Anagrams

• cavarne

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós?

Proto-Italic *kawos

Latin cavus

Latin -erna

Latin caverna

From cavus (“hollow, excavated, concave”) + -erna.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

caverna f (genitive cavernae); first declension

1. a hollow, cavity, cave, cavern, grotto, hole
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 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.

Inflection

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	caverna	cavernae
genitive	cavernae	cavernārum
dative	cavernae	cavernīs
accusative	cavernam	cavernās
ablative	cavernā	cavernīs
vocative	caverna	cavernae

Derived terms

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

Related terms

• cavātus
• cavō
• cavōsitās
• cavum aedium
• cavus

Descendants

Descendants

• → Catalan: caverna
• → Galician: caverna
• → Italian: caverna
• → Old French: caverne
  • Middle French: caverne
    • French: caverne
    • → Middle English: caverne
      • English: cavern
• → Portuguese: caverna
• → Romanian: cavernă
• → Russian: каве́рна (kavérna)
• → Spanish: caverna

References

• “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.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛʁ.nɐ/ [kaˈvɛɦ.nɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛʁ.nɐ/ [kaˈvɛɦ.nɐ]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛɾ.nɐ/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛʁ.nɐ/
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /kaˈvɛɻ.nɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈvɛɾ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈvɛɾ.nɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈbɛɾ.nɐ/ [kɐˈβɛɾ.nɐ]

• Hyphenation: ca‧ver‧na

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós?

Proto-Italic *kawos

Latin cavus

Latin -erna

Latin cavernalbor.

Portuguese caverna

Learned borrowing from Latin caverna.

Noun

caverna f (plural cavernas)

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

   Synonym: costela

Derived terms

• caverna-mestra
• cavername
• cavernoso

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

caverna

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

Further reading

• “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

Romanian

Noun

caverna f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of cavernă

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱewh₁-

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *-ós

Proto-Indo-European *ḱowh₁ós?

Proto-Italic *kawos

Latin cavus

Latin -erna

Latin cavernalbor.

Spanish caverna

Learned borrowing from Latin caverna. Cognate with English cavern.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

caverna f (plural cavernas)

1. cavern

Related terms

• cavernícola
• cavernoso

Further reading

• “caverna”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026