crypt

From Latin crypta (“vault”), from Ancient Greek κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”).

• IPA^(key): /kɹɪpt/
• Rhymes: -ɪpt

crypt (plural crypts)

1. (now rare) A cave or cavern. [from 15th c.]
2. An underground vault, especially one beneath a church that is used as a burial place. [from 16th c.]
   • 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/2/1”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days‎:

     She turned and waved a hand to him, she cried a word, but he didn't hear it, it was a lost word. A sable wraith she was in the parkland, fading away into the dolorous crypt of winter.

3. (anatomy) A small pit or cavity in the surface of an organ or other structure. [from 19th c.]
   • 2015, David Shaw, translating Giulia Enders, Gut, Scribe 2016, p. 25:

     Sometimes, too much foreign material can get caught in the crypts, leading to frequent infections.

• crypt of Lieberkühn
• hemicrypt

• encrypt

• crypt on Wikipedia.Wikipedia