What does cuvette mean?
A cuvette is a small, straight-sided container—typically a square tube of optically clear glass, plastic, or quartz—used to hold liquid samples during measurement in instruments such as spectrophotometers, colorimeters, and fluorometers. Because light passes directly through it, a cuvette must be scrupulously clean and optically uniform; even fingerprints or stray droplets can distort readings, so technicians handle it by its frosted sides and rinse it between samples. Cuvettes are specified by path length, most commonly 10 millimetres, and by material: inexpensive plastic versions suit routine aqueous work, while quartz models transmit ultraviolet light that ordinary glass absorbs. The word derives from French, where 'cuvette' means a little tub or basin, and in geography it retains this sense, describing a shallow drainage basin. Precise, humble, and indispensable, the cuvette quietly underpins countless measurements in analytical science.
A small transparent vessel, typically square in cross-section, used to hold liquid samples for optical measurement in spectrophotometers and similar instruments.
"Place the blank solution in the cuvette before calibrating the instrument."
Standard path lengths are 1 cm (10 mm); matched cuvettes should be used when comparing samples.
A shallow basin or depression in the landscape, especially an inland drainage basin without access to the sea (a chiefly European geographical usage).
"The Pannonian Basin forms a vast cuvette ringed by the Carpathian Mountains."
Regular plural; occasionally written 'cuvets' in older American laboratory literature, but 'cuvettes' is now standard.
"Rinse all four cuvettes thoroughly between measurements."
That tiny square glass vial in the lab costs as much as fine stemware — because it must be optically perfect to within a fraction of a degree.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of cuvette
English borrowed 'cuvette' from French, where it is the diminutive of 'cuve', meaning a vat or tub; French 'cuve' itself descends from Latin 'cupa', a cask or vat. The word entered scientific usage in the 19th century as laboratory optics developed, retaining the sense of a small vessel or basin. Its Latin root also underlies related borrowing words such as 'vat' via Germanic routes and the French 'couverte'-derived forms, making 'cuve' the shared ancestral term.
How cuvette is actually used
Chiefly a technical term in chemistry, biochemistry, and optics laboratories; plural is usually 'cuvettes'. In French, 'cuvette' also means a bowl or basin (and colloquially a toilet bowl), which explains the geographical sense of a drainage basin.
Easily confused with cuvette
"Covette" is not a standard English word; "cuvette" is the correct term for the optical sample cell.
A corvette is a small warship (or a Chevrolet sports car), whereas a cuvette is a laboratory vessel for holding liquid samples.