crater

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crātēr (“mixing bowl; bowl, basin; mouth of a volcano”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from Ancient Greek κρατήρ (krātḗr, “mixing bowl”), literally "mixer",^[2][7] from the base of κεράννυμι (keránnumi, “to mix”),^[3][4][7][8] with an agent suffix.^[7] The Greek verb goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kerə- (“to mix, cook”),^[5][3][9] and Merriam-Webster thinks it probably related to Old English hrēran (“to stir”), Old High German hruoren and Old Norse hrœra.^[4] It was already in Latin that the word was applied to the mouth of a volcano.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The bowl- or funnel-shaped mouth of a volcano: 1613, in Samuel Purchas's Pilgrimage,^[2][3][4] although Ayto dates Purchas's use to 1619.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The Greeks and Romans drank their wine mixed with water and mixed it in a large wide-mouthed bowl, the kratēr;^[10][9] English took the word only in its Latin transferred sense, the volcano's mouth.^[10][9][8] The classical sense, the ancient mixing bowl, is recorded in English only from 1730, in Bailey's dictionary, and is also spelled krater.^[2][9][8] The volcanic sense was extended to the round hollows on the Moon, which were at first thought to be volcanic: from 1831 in Etymonline, 1860 in the OED.^[9][2] From 1839 a crater was also the pit made by the explosion of a mine, and later of a shell or bomb.^{[2][9][11][6]} Since 1892 it has also been the hollow burnt in the carbon of an arc lamp.^[2] The southern constellation Crater was so named in English by 1658.^[2] The verb, to form a crater, is recorded from 1884,^[2][4][3] and its sense to destroy a road or ground with craters from 1917.^[2] In American campus and teenage slang a crater is an acne scar, as in crater-face (1959).^[12] French adopted cratère late: the Académie admitted its two senses in 1762 and 1798.^[2]

Timeline

• 1613 – the mouth of a volcano.^[2][3][4]
• 1658 – the constellation.^[2]
• 1730 – the ancient Greek mixing bowl.^[2][9]
• 1831 – a hollow on the Moon (1860 in the OED).^[9][2]
• 1839 – the cavity made by the explosion of a mine.^[2][9][11]
• 1884 – verb, to form a crater.^[2][4][3]
• 1892 – the hollow in the carbon of an arc lamp.^[2]
• 1917 – verb, to destroy with craters.^[2]
• 1959 – slang, an acne scar.^[12]

Meanings

Noun

1. The bowl-shaped hollow at the top or side of a volcano or the top of a geyser, from which lava, gases or water are thrown out.^[13][4][2]
2. A similar hollow made by the impact of a meteorite or the explosion of a bomb, shell or mine.^[13][4][2]
3. Any of the round, walled hollows on the surface of the Moon and of other planets.^[13][4][2]
4. (also krater) A large ancient Greek bowl in which wine was mixed with water.^[2][8]
5. (slang) An acne scar.^[12]

Verb

1. To form a crater: The soft rock cratered under the falling water.^[4][2]
2. To make craters in: Shelling had cratered the airfield.^[4][2]

Word family

• craterlike
• crateral
• craterlet
• intercrater
• crater lake
• impact crater

Related words

• crasis

Usage notes

Crater is also the name of a small, faint southern constellation between Virgo and Hydra.^[13][2] Merriam-Webster also lists crater for a person who packs goods in crates, formed from crate.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
12. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins