chasma
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chasma
- /ˈkazmə/ UK
- /ˈkæzmə/ US
Rhymes with -æzmə
Where it comes from
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.
noun chasmas · chasmata
- A long, narrow, steep-sided depression on a planet (often other than Earth), a moon, or another body in the Solar System. The most prominent tectonic feature on Tethys is the globe-girdling Ithaca Chasma, which is 60 to 100 km wide, 3–4 km deep, and can be traced through at least 270° of a rough great circle (Smith et al, 1982; Moore & Ahern, 1983). […] Odysseys Tangent Chasma. A prominent chasma 60–80 km wide and at l
- An aurora. Thus Cornelius Gemma, Professor of Medicine in Louvain, mentions them [the aurora borealis] under the name of chasma, as appearing in Brabant on the 13th February and 28th September, 1575.
- Obsolete form of chasm
Translations
Talk about this word "chasma." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/chasma. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. chasma. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/chasma "chasma." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/chasma.Cite this
@misc{chasma_2026,
title = {chasma},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/chasma},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
