couloir

[prettygoodword]

couloir (kool-WAHR) - n., a steep mountainside gully.


Originally, especially in the Alps, but now used elsewhere.


Thanks, WikiMedia!

Beloved of extreme skiers as a challenging slope, when actually snowy. From French, originally literal meaning corridor, from couler, to filter/strain, from Latin cōlāre, from cōlum, colander/strainer, of unknown origin.

---L.

Comments

[med_cat]

Great word to know, thanks :)

The French word is used in Russian, in a meaning closer to its original one

[prettygoodword]

Interesting/