lacuna

Learned borrowing from Latin lacūna (“a ditch, pit; a hollow, cavity; a gap, defect”). Doublet of lacune and lagoon.

• IPA^(key): /ləˈk(j)uː.nə/

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• Rhymes: -uːnə

lacuna (plural lacunae or (obsolete) lacunæ or lacunas)

1. (particularly anatomy) A small opening; a small pit or depression, especially in bone.
   1. (microscopy) A space visible between cells, allowing free passage of light.
2. A small blank space; a gap or vacancy; a hiatus.
   • 1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     "Our young friend makes up for many obvious mental lacunæ by some measure of primitive common sense," remarked Challenger.

   1. An absent part, especially in a book or other piece of writing, often referring to an ancient manuscript or similar.

      Long lacunae in this inscription make interpretation difficult.

   2. Any gap, break, hole, or lack in a set of things; something missing.
      • 2019, Huang, Li; James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, volume 41, number 7, →DOI, page 577:

        If the researcher cannot adequately hear a specific conversation due to its low volume or other acoustic interference, then this data point can be passed over with the understanding that such lacunae will be randomly distributed over the data collecting period.

   3. (translation studies) A language gap, which occurs when there is no direct translation in the target language for a lexical term found in the source language.

      Synonym: anisomorphism

• gap
• hiatus

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

• canula

Borrowed from Latin lacūna. Compare the inherited doublet laguna.

• IPA^(key): /laˈku.na/
• Rhymes: -una
• Hyphenation: la‧cù‧na

lacuna f (plural lacune)

1. gap
2. blank (space)
3. lapse (of memory)

• cunetta

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

• alcuna, lucana

• lucūna

From lacus (“a lake, pond; a basin, tank, cistern”).

This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /laˈkuː.na/, [ɫ̪äˈkuːnä]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /laˈku.na/, [läˈkuːnä]

lacūna f (genitive lacūnae); first declension

1. (literally, chiefly poetic) a hole, pit, ditch; (especially) a pool, pond
   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgicon 1.117:

      […], unde cavae tepido sudant umore lacunae.

   1. (generally) an opening, cavity, hollow, cleft, chasm
      • c. 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De architectura 7.1.4:

         […], ut ne habeant lacunas nec extantes tumulos, […]

2. (figurative, rare, Classical Latin) a gap, void, defect, want, loss
   • c. 177 CE, Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae 1.3.23:

      […], minimaque illa labes et quasi lacuna famae munimentis partarum amico utilitatium solidatur.

First-declension noun.

• lacūnātūra

• lacūnar, lacūnarium
• lacūnārius
• lacūnō
• lacūnōsus

• lacūnātūra

• “lacuna”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “lacuna”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lacuna in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• lacuna in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• “lacuna”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• lacuna in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Learned borrowing from Latin lacūna.[1][2] Compare the inherited lagoa and laguna.

• Hyphenation: la‧cu‧na

lacuna f (plural lacunas)

1. hiatus (gap in a series)

   Synonym: hiato

2. blank (space to be filled in)

• lagoa

• IPA^(key): [laˈkuna]

lacuna f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of lacună