Wormhole

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈwɝmˌhoʊl/

Definitions

1. A proposed connection in the fabric of the universe that enables travel between widely separated locations in both space and time
2. A hypothetical tunnel linking two separate points in the cosmos, allowing instantaneous travel across space and time
3. A proposed passage that folds spacetime to connect distant regions, potentially enabling faster-than-light journey

Etymology: The oldest sense of "wormhole" has nothing to do with space. In the 1590s it described a hole bored into wood, timber, or fruit by a worm, the kind of tunnel a grub leaves behind as it eats its way through. The word was a plain compound of "worm" and "hole," describing exactly what it looked like. The cosmic sense arrived much later. In 1957, the physicists Charles Misner and John Archibald Wheeler published "Classical Physics as Geometry" in the Annals of Physics, and in it Wheeler used the term for a hypothetical tunnel connecting two distant points in spacetime. The borrowing was a deliberate analogy: a worm crawling through an apple can reach the far side by a shortcut through the fruit rather than around its surface, just as a passage through spacetime might link two places that are far apart when measured along ordinary space.

Synonyms: spacetime tunnel, shortcut, portal, bridge, bypass