karst means A mountainous karst plateau in northeastern Italy and southwestern Slovenia; in full, Karst Plateau. Lexicurio rates it Familiar — a strength score of 29 out of 100.
karst is pronounced /kɑɹst/.
Why “karst” is a great word
KARST — [Noun] A landscape characterized by sinkholes, caves, and underground drainage, formed by the chemical dissolution of soluble bedrock like limestone or dolomite. Borrowed from German Karst, a proper name for a limestone plateau near Trieste, from Proto-Slavic *korsъ, from Italo-Dalmatian carsus, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ker- ("hard; rock"). The geological term was established in international scientific use circa 1894. Unlike a "canyon," carved by a river's abrasive force, or "glaciated terrain," sculpted by the grinding weight of ice, karst is a landscape that melts, a silent architecture built by the patient, corrosive work of mildly acidic water. It is the sudden, circular collapse of a sinkhole in a pasture, the echoing cathedral space of a cavern hung with stalactites, and the paradox of a river that vanishes into the earth only to emerge miles away—a testament to the soft, persistent chemistry of the dark.
Etymology
Borrowed from German Karst. The German term and the Slovene placename Kras (the Karst Plateau) are from Proto-Slavic *korsъ, from Italo-Dalmatian carsus (cf. Italian carso), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *ker- (“hard; rock”). More at Karst.
The metathesis in the Slovene term precludes German borrowing from Slovene.
name
- A mountainous karst plateau in northeastern Italy and southwestern Slovenia; in full, Karst Plateau.
noun
- A type of land formation, usually with many caves formed through the dissolving of limestone by underground drainage.“In the time available to us on our geomorphological tour we were not able to see the higher and younger karsts of Kweichow and Yunnan and Kunming.”