miner

American  

[mahy-ner] / ˈmaɪ nər /

noun

miners plural

1. Also called mineworker.  a person who works in a mine, especially a commercial mine producing coal or metallic ores.

   His ancestors were slate miners in Wales who emigrated to the United States.

2. a mechanical device used in mining.

   She made her money by developing a miner for extracting ores from the ocean floor.

3. any of several Australian birds of the genus Manorina, feeding on honey and typically having a loud call.

4. Entomology. any of various insect larvae that create tunnels in the parenchyma of leaves.

5. Digital Technology.

   1. a computer or network of computers engaged in solving sets of mathematical problems that are used to verify cryptocurrency transactions and that, when solved, yield a unit of the currency.

   2. a software application that is designed to run this process.

   3. a person or company that engages in this process.

6. (formerly) a person who places or lays explosive mines.

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miner British  

/ ˈmaɪnə /

noun

1. a person who works in a mine

2. Also called: continuous miner.  a large machine for the automatic extraction of minerals, esp coal, from a mine

3. any of various insects or insect larvae that bore into and feed on plant tissues See also leaf miner

4. any of several honey-eaters of the genus Manorina, esp M. melanocephala (noisy miner), of scrub regions See noisy miner

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• miners
  plural

Etymology

Origin of miner

First recorded in 1225–75; mine ² + -er ¹; replacing Middle English minour, from Anglo-French ( see -or ²)

Explanation

Picture a hardhat, a headlamp and a pick, and you are on the right track. A miner is a person who makes a living digging coal, salt, gold, minerals, or other natural resources out of the earth. The root here is the noun mine—not the word that possessive toddlers like to shout, but the one that describes a man-made underground network of tunnels and quarries. Don’t confuse miner with minor (note the “o”). Minor refers to musical intervals, small or trivial things, and people under age 18.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

miner miners

Tyler was born Gaynor Hopkins on June 8, 1951, to homemaker Elsie and coal miner Glyndwr, and was one of seven children.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026

The miner can grow its output by up to 30% by 2028 as its Centinela second concentrator project progresses, they add.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026

Alcoa stock fell 8.9% after the aluminum producer agreed to buy Australian miner South32’s aluminum, bauxite, and alumina assets for $4.1 billion.

From Barron's ● Jul. 1, 2026

The platinum group metals miner can fund these projects from existing cash flows, he adds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

The old man related that, the week before, he had been forced to appear before a miner, and had taken the form of a stone.

From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho

"I felt the pressure from the engineers: the more horizontally the tunnel advanced, the more unstable it became," recounted Torres, who participated in the rescue of 33 miners in Chile in 2010.

From Barron's ● Jul. 7, 2026

There has been a flurry of dealmaking in the gold sector as miners seek to attract investor attention and replace depleting reserves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Tuesday’s filing also didn’t include ventures linked to Trump’s eldest sons, who now lead the Trump Organization and have made investments into drone makers, bitcoin miners and more since Trump’s re-election.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

Its application specific integrated circuits, or ASICs, were previously a niche product for users with unchanging workloads—video processors or crypto miners.

From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026

When his lungs finally gave out and his miners refused to let him on the man-trip anymore, Dad joined her there.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

Related Words

• prospector