spelunker

American  

[spi-luhng-ker] / spɪˈlʌŋ kər /

noun

1. a person who explores caves, especially as a hobby.

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spelunker British  

/ spɪˈlʌŋkə /

noun

1. a person whose hobby is the exploration and study of caves

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Other Word Forms

• spelunking noun

Etymology

Origin of spelunker

1940–45; < Latin spēlunc ( a ) cave (≪ Greek spêlynx, stem spēlyng-, akin to spḗlaion; spelaean ) + -er ¹

Explanation

A spelunker is an explorer of caves. If you hope to one day be a spelunker, you probably have a love of dark, damp spaces and headlamps. This word may seem to have German written all over it but it's actually Latinate: from spelunk, meaning "cave." The word designates an explorer of caves and is used mostly in American English, in preference to the more technical and refined speleologist. You can describe what a spelunker does as spelunking, or if you want to make sure you're understood, you can call it caving, or in the United Kingdom and Ireland, potholing.

Example Sentences

Though this is Baker’s most conventional story, he is still the 21st century’s best societal spelunker, with a filmography that plays like an underground study of modern economics.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2024

Roles like son, citizen or expectant father are a little different from cancer researcher or spelunker.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 2, 2018

Vernon Unsworth, a British insurance consultant and hobbyist spelunker, has made an obsession of the Tham Luang cave system.

From Washington Post • Jul. 13, 2018

The lost spelunker could have chosen a safer cave.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 22, 2016

On a recent Friday evening, as the streets of downtown Washington were jammed with cars heading home, Mr. Wilder pedaled away wearing a camera on his forehead, looking like a spelunker wearing a headlamp.

From New York Times • Jul. 20, 2012