caveola

C3A1V4E1O1L1A1

noun

A small (50–100 nanometer) invagination of the plasma membrane in many vertebrate cell types.

OriginNew Latin caveola ← Late Latin caveola →
Scrabble 12
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nouncaveola (plural caveolae)

plural caveolae

  1. A small (50–100 nanometer) invagination of the plasma membrane in many vertebrate cell types.

Origin

  1. Late Latincaveola
  2. New Latincaveola
  3. Englishcaveola

Learned borrowing from New Latin caveola, constructed from cavea (“hollow, cavity; cage”) + -ola (diminutive suffix). Doublet of jail, which is from Late Latin caveola, an earlier, natural formation of the same term. More at cave, cavum, cava and cage.

More words from New Latin, Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Finnish kaveoli
  • kaveolismall invagination of the plasma membrane
Spanish caveola
  • caveolasmall invagination of the plasma membrane

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with caveola

MotorolaAngolacolaPensacolaviolalolaOsceolacanolaholaRollagondolanolabolagranolaTortolakolaebolamineolaIolamolaApalachicolagorgonzolaareolapayola
All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

caveola. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caveola

MLA

“caveola.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caveola. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “caveola,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caveola.

Source: caveola on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.