crater
pronunciation
How to pronounce crater in British English:
UK [ˈkreɪtə(r)]
How to pronounce crater in American English:
US [ˈkreɪtər]
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- Noun:
- a bowl-shaped opening at the top of a volcano
- a bowl-shaped depression formed by the impact of a meteorite or bomb
Word Origin
- crater
- crater: [17] Greek kratér meant ‘bowl’, or more specifically ‘mixing bowl’: it was a derivative of the base *kerā, which also produced the verb kerannúnai ‘mix’. (Crater or krater is still used in English as a technical term for the bowl or jar used by the ancient Greeks for mixing wine and water in.) Borrowed into Latin as crātēr, it came to be used metaphorically for the bowl-shaped depression at the mouth of a volcano. Its acquisition by English is first recorded in Samuel Purchas’s Pilgrimage 1619.
- crater (n.)
- 1610s, from Latin crater, from Greek krater "bowl for mixing wine with water," from kera- "to mix," from PIE root *kere- "to mix, confuse; cook" (see rare (adj.2)). Used in Latin for bowl-shaped mouth of a volcano. Applied to features of the Moon since 1831 (they originally were thought to be volcanic). As a verb, from 1830 in poetry, 1872 in science. Related: Cratered; cratering.
Example
- 1. If you go further , you 'll see the second crater .
- 2. On the down slope of the crater the grasslands turn to rainforest .
- 3. Above , a miner carries sulfur out of the crater on july 22 , 2006 .
- 4. This information will help researchers understand crater formation and study other uncharted areas of the moon .
- 5. The man in the photo is a sulphur miner who works at indonesia 's famous ijen crater .