alveolus

Borrowed from Latin alveolus (“a small hollow or cavity”), diminutive of alveus (“a hollow, cavity”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌal.viˈəʊ.ləs/, /alˈviː.əl.əs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ælˈvi.əl.əs/
• Rhymes: -iːələs

alveolus (plural alveoli)

1. A small cavity or pit.
   1. (anatomy) Any of the many tiny air sacs in the lungs in which the bronchioles terminate and where oxygen and carbon dioxide are rapidly exchanged with the pulmonary capillaries.

      Synonym: pulmonary alveolus

   3. (anatomy, dentistry) The bony socket in which the root of a tooth resides.

      Synonyms: dental alveolus, tooth socket, alveolar socket

   4. (anatomy) An acinus (saclike cavity) in a gland.
      • 1997, Comprehensive Toxicology: Reproductive and endocrine toxicology, page 258:

        The sprouts proliferate and canalize to form the lactiferous ducts and the outbuddings form the alveoli of the mammary glands.

   5. (entomology) The socket of a macrotrichium (seta).

• “alveolus”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “alveolus”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “alveolus”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “alveolus”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

From English alveolus, from Latin alveolus, a diminutive of alveus (“a tray, trough, basin”), from alvus (“the belly, the stomach, bowels, womb, etc.”).

• (standard) IPA^(key): [al.veˈo.lʊs]
• (common) IPA^(key): [al.feˈo.lʊs]
• Hyphenation: al‧vé‧o‧lus

alvéolus (plural alveolus-alveolus)

1. alveolus,
   1. (anatomy, pulmonology) a small air sac in the lungs, where oxygen and carbon dioxide are exchanged with the blood
   2. (anatomy, dentistry) a dental alveolus (tooth socket): the socket in which a tooth resides

• alveola

• “alveolus” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

From alveus (“a hollow, cavity”) +‎ -olus (diminutive nominal suffix).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [aɫˈwe.ɔ.ɫʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [alˈvɛː.o.lus]

alveolus m (genitive alveolī); second declension

1. diminutive of alveus:
   1. a small hollow or cavity
   2. a tray, trough, basin
   3. (board games) a small gaming board upon which the dice are thrown
   4. a small channel of a river
   5. (weaving) a weaver's shuttle (from its shape)

Second-declension noun.

• alveolātus (adjective)
• alveolāris (adjective)

• alveus

• “alveolus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “alveolus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "alveolus", 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)
• alveolus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• alveolus in D. P. Simpson, Cassell's Latin Dictionary, Wiley Publishing, 1968