Etymologically
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crater

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈkɹeɪ.tə(ɹ)/[1]
  • US: /ˈkɹeɪ.tɚ/[1]

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
  • 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