noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Puncture or perforation. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   (surgery) the act of puncturing a body cavity or organ with a hollow needle in order to draw out fluid wordnet

Etymology

From Ancient Greek κέντησις (kéntēsis, “the act of pricking”), from κεντέω (kentéō, “I prick”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.