eldertongue

Modern English → Old English

Old English word for cave

5 headwords match “cave”, ranked by the scoring in the data pipeline. The five strongest follow; scræf ranks first.

  1. 1

    scræf

    score 15

    noun, neuter · strong a-stem · 6 inflected forms

    cave — cave, cavern

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular sċræf
    genitive singular sċræfes
    dative singular sċræfe
    accusative singular sċræf
    nominative plural sċrafu
    genitive plural sċrafa
  2. 2

    eorþsele

    score 15

    noun, masculine · strong i-stem · 5 inflected forms

    cave — cave

    • opens the headword's definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular eorþsele
    genitive singular eorþseles
    dative singular eorþsele
    accusative singular eorþsele
    nominative plural eorþselas
    genitive plural eorþsela
  3. 3

    eorþhus

    score 11

    noun, neuter · strong a-stem · 5 inflected forms

    cave — den, cave

    • appears in the definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular eorþhūs
    genitive singular eorþhūses
    dative singular eorþhūse
    accusative singular eorþhūs
    nominative plural eorþhūs
    genitive plural eorþhūsa
  4. 4

    dunscræf

    score 11

    noun, neuter · strong a-stem · 6 inflected forms

    cave — a mountain cave

    • appears in the definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular dūnsċræf
    genitive singular dūnsċræfes
    dative singular dūnsċræfe
    accusative singular dūnsċræf
    nominative plural dūnsċrafu
    genitive plural dūnsċrafa
  5. 5

    eorþræced

    score 11

    noun, neuter · strong a-stem · 5 inflected forms

    cave — a ground-chamber; cave

    • appears in the definition
    • has a full inflection table
    Paradigm summary
    nominative singular eorþræċed
    genitive singular eorþræċedes
    dative singular eorþræċede
    accusative singular eorþræċed
    nominative plural eorþræċed
    genitive plural eorþræċeda

How this ranking works

Scores are computed once, when the site is built, from the Wiktionary data. Every headword whose definitions mention “cave” gets the points below; the candidates are then sorted by total. The score is shown on each entry above so the order can be checked rather than trusted.

The English word opens the headword's definition+10
It appears later in the first definition+6
It appears in any definition+3
It is in the headword's links+2
It is listed as an English descendant (etymological evidence)+9
The headword has an inflection table+3
Part of speech is a proper noun−5
Part of speech is a verb (-ian derivations are noisy)−3
The headword is an alternative form−6
The first definition is longer than three words−2

A candidate has to be a real headword with its own entry: inflected forms and grammatical terminology (genitive, nominative, preterite, …) never appear here.

Not one of these?

The match may be a different sense of “cave”, or an inflected form rather than a headword. Look up the form directly — the entry page marks the grammatical case.

Candidates derived from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0). Each entry links to its source page. · CC BY-SA 4.0 and attribution · CC BY-SA 4.0