caveola

English dictionary entry

Meanings

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

Word forms

caveola caveolae

Etymology

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.

Derived words

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