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prettygoodwordspelunker (spi-LUHNG-ker) - n., someone who explores caves.
Especially as a hobby. A usage note tells me that many who do this prefer to be called caver, taking spelunker as derogatory term for a unprepared caver, and several dictionaries note that the British English the term is potholer. Coined in the 1930s by New England cave explorer Roger Charles Johnson, from obsolete spelunk, cave, from Middle English, from Old French spelunque, from Latin spēlunca, from Greek spēlunx, cave. The scientist who studies caves and their formation is a speleologist.
---L.
Especially as a hobby. A usage note tells me that many who do this prefer to be called caver, taking spelunker as derogatory term for a unprepared caver, and several dictionaries note that the British English the term is potholer. Coined in the 1930s by New England cave explorer Roger Charles Johnson, from obsolete spelunk, cave, from Middle English, from Old French spelunque, from Latin spēlunca, from Greek spēlunx, cave. The scientist who studies caves and their formation is a speleologist.
---L.
