pore

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: C1 — Advanced

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun any tiny hole admitting passage of a liquid (fluid or gas)
  2. noun any small opening in the skin or outer surface of an animal
  3. noun a minute epidermal pore in a leaf or stem through which gases and water vapor can pass

Etymology

From Middle English pore, from Old French pore, from Latin porus, from Ancient Greek πόρος (póros, “passage”). Displaced native English sweat hole from Middle English swet hole, which might have been a reformation of Old English swātþȳrel (literally “sweat hole”), which competed with līcþēote (literally “body pipe”).

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