New Word #85: Cave

Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Cave, Cavern, Caveat

cavern: Cavern is said to be a cave or a chamber in a cave.

caveat: a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations. “there are a number of caveats which concern the validity of the assessment results”. I really like this word and has been using it several times. For example, in our life, good things often come with a caveat.

Crave And Craven

Crave has nothing to do with craven. For a long time, I mixed these two together and didn’t know the difference.

crave: feel a powerful desire for (something).

craven: contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly.

Cavalier, Cavalry, Carnival

Carnival is a word that one hears once and one never forgets. On the other hand, the word cavalier has always been mistaken for a soldier who’s a member of a cavalry, for no apparent reason. It takes me a long time to finally come to grasp the correct meaning, but still I like my mistaken interpretation much better.

cavalier: showing a lack of proper concern; offhand.

cavalry: (in the past) soldiers who fought on horseback.

carnival: 1. a public festival or revelry. 2. (North America) a traveling amusement show or circus.

Crate, Crater, Cater, Caterer, Catering

crate: a slatted wooden case used for transporting or storing goods. I think crate is just a basket made of wood.

crater: a large, bowl-shaped cavity in the ground or on the surface of a planet or the moon, typically one caused by an explosion or the impact of a meteorite or other celestial body. Basically it is a bowl like hole on the ground.

cater, caterer, and catering: Cater (North America) is referring to a person or a company that provides food and drink, typically at social events and in a professional capacity. This word is often used. The person who provides such a service is called a caterer. And the service is called catering.

Case, Casing, Casement

These three words have nothing to do with each other despite the fact that they look like variations from the same word.

casing: cover or shell that protects or encloses something.

casement: a window or part of a window set on a hinge so that it opens like a door.

Cad, Cadet, Cadence

These three words have nothing to do with each other despite the similarity in appearance.

cad: a man who behaves dishonorably, especially toward a woman.

cadet: a young trainee in the armed services or police force.

cadence: a sequence of notes or chords comprising the close of a musical phrase.

Coco, Coca, Cocoa, Cacao

These four words look similar, sound similar, but they are referring to different things. Coco is a coconut, or the nickname of the fashion brand Chanel’s founder, who is said to be a secret agent for the Nazis. Coca is the plant, from which the illegal drug cocaine is eventually produced. Cocoa is a chocolate drink many people love while cacao is the seed, from which chocolate are made. I don’t know why I bother to distinguish them, knowing that I am going to mix them up again tomorrow.

coco: coconut

coca: a tropical American shrub that is widely grown for its leaves, which are the source of cocaine.

cocoa: a chocolate powder made from roasted and ground cacao seeds.

cacao: seeds from a small tropical American evergreen tree, from which cocoa, cocoa butter, and chocolate are made.