spelunking

English

Etymology

From spelunk +‎ -ing. Back-formation from spelunker. Attested since 1946.

Noun

spelunking (usually uncountable, plural spelunkings)

1. The practice or hobby of exploring underground caverns.

   Synonym: caving

   • 2001, Nancy Hathaway, The Friendly Guide to Mythology, page 277:

     In the great myths, the adventures are external, even when they involve such metaphorical spelunkings as the voyage into the underworld.

Translations

exploring underground caverns

• Dutch: speleologie (nl) f
• Finnish: luolatutkimus, speleologia (fi)
• French: spéléologie (fr) f
• German: Höhlenwandern n
• Irish: uaimheadóireacht f
• Korean: 케이빙 (keibing)
• Romanian: speologie (ro) f
• Russian: спелеоло́гия (ru) f (speleológija)
• Slovene: jamarstvo n
• Spanish: espeleísmo f
• Vietnamese: sự thích khảo sát hang động
• Welsh: ogofa m

Verb

spelunking

1. present participle and gerund of spelunk

Further reading

• caving on Wikipedia.Wikipedia