chasma

== English == === Etymology === From Latin chasma, from Ancient Greek χάσμα (khásma, “abyss, cleft”), from Ancient Greek χᾰ́σκω (khắskō, “to gape, yawn”) (possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰan-, *gʰan- (“to gape, yawn”) + -σκω (-skō, inchoative suffix forming a present-tense word), from Proto-Indo-European *-sḱéti (suffix forming a durative or iterative imperfective verb); or from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰeh₁y- (“to gape, yawn”)) + Ancient Greek -μᾰ (-mă, suffix forming a noun denoting the result of an action) (from Proto-Indo-European *-mn̥ (suffix forming an action or result noun)). Doublet of chasm. The obsolete “aurora” sense is from the fact that aurorae were thought to be rifts in the sky from which light shone through: see the 1822 quotation. === Pronunciation === (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkazmə/ (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkæzmə/ Hyphenation: chas‧ma Rhymes: -æzmə === Noun === chasma (plural chasmas or chasmata) (astronomy, geology) A long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another body in the Solar System. (astronomy, obsolete, rare) An aurora. Obsolete form of chasm. ==== Related terms ==== chasm chasmal chasmatical ==== Translations ==== === Further reading === chasma on Wikipedia.Wikipedia === Anagrams === chamas, chamsa, ascham, Schama == Latin == === Etymology === Borrowed from Ancient Greek χάσμα (khásma). === Noun === chasma n (genitive chasmatis); third declension A chasm, abyss A kind of meteor ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem). ==== Descendants ==== → English: chasm, chasma === References === “chasma”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “chasma”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 299.