different between cavern vs crevasse

English

Etymology

From Middle English caverne, from Old French caverne, from Latin caverna, from cavus (“hollow”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: k?v'?n, IPA^(key): /?kæv.?n/
• (General American) enPR: k?v'?rn, IPA^(key): /?kæv.?n/
• Rhymes: -æv?(?)n

Noun

cavern (plural caverns)

1. A large cave.
2. An underground chamber.

Derived terms

• cavernous

Translations

Verb

cavern (third-person singular simple present caverns, present participle caverning, simple past and past participle caverned)

1. (transitive) To form a cavern or deep depression in.

   catacombs caverning the hillsides

2. (transitive) To put into a cavern.

Anagrams

• Craven, carven, craven

English

Etymology

From French crevasse. Doublet of crevice.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æs
• IPA^(key): /k???væs/

Noun

crevasse (plural crevasses)

1. A crack or fissure in a glacier or snowfield; a chasm.
2. (US) A breach in a canal or river bank.
3. (by extension) Any cleft or fissure.
   • 2010, Scott R. Riley, A Lost Hero Found (page 111)

     I moved my left hand to the small of her back, just above her belt-line and stroked the peach fuzz in her crevasse with my fingers.

4. (figuratively) A discontinuity or “gap” between the accounted variables and an observed outcome.
   • 1954: Gilbert Ryle, Dilemmas: The Tarner Lectures, 1953, dilemma vii: Perception, page 105 (The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press)

     […] he laments that he can find no physiological phenomenon answering to his subject’s winning a race, or losing it. Between his terminal output of energy and his victory or defeat there is a mysterious crevasse. Physiology is baffled.

Translations

Verb

crevasse (third-person singular simple present crevasses, present participle crevassing, simple past and past participle crevassed)

1. (intransitive) To form crevasses.
2. (transitive) To fissure with crevasses.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /k??.vas/
• Rhymes: -as

Etymology 1

Old French crevace, crever +? -asse

Noun

crevasse f (plural crevasses)

1. crevasse

Etymology 2

Inflected forms

Verb

crevasse

1. first-person singular imperfect subjunctive of crever

Further reading

• “crevasse” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• crevassa (dated)

Noun

crevasse f (plural crevasses)

1. (glaciology) crevasse (a crack or fissure in a glacier or snow field)