spelunk means A cave, cavern or grotto. It carries an Arena rating of 1654, earned across 12 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, spelunk ranks #660 of 17,126 for Most Satisfying to Say, #879 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #1,163 of 17,132 for Most Betrayed by Its Sound, #1,394 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
spelunk is pronounced /spəˈlʌŋk/.
Why “spelunk” is a great word
A natural subterranean void, or the act of exploring such places for pleasure. Its lineage runs deep: from Ancient Greek σπῆλυγξ (spêlunx, "cave") through Latin spelunca and into English via Old French. Unlike "cave"—a common, utilitarian term—"spelunk" as a noun carries an archaic, poetic weight, and as a verb it specifically consecrates the amateur pursuit of subterranean discovery; it also differs from "potholing," which denotes the technical, rope-dependent descent into vertical shafts, whereas to spelunk implies a more general, sometimes less equipped, wandering into the dark. It is the smell of damp limestone and ancient silence, the careful placement of a boot on damp, unseen stone, and the singular echo of a dropped pebble falling into a black pool—a deliberate return to the primal dark from which we once emerged.
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.
noun
- A cave, cavern or grotto.
verb
- To explore caves.
- To explore a system in depth.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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