spelunk

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A cave, cavern or grotto.
verb
  1. To explore caves.
  2. To explore a system in depth.

Pronunciation

/spəˈlʌŋk/ /spiːˈlʌŋk/ en-us-spelunk.ogg

Word forms

spelunk spelunks spelunc spelunking spelunked

Etymology

From Middle English spelunke, from Old French spelonque and/or Latin spelunca, from Ancient Greek σπῆλυγξ (spêlunx, “cave”), related to σπέος (spéos). Cognates include Middle Dutch spelunke, spelonke, German Spelunke.

Synonyms

Derived words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.