Canyoner

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who explores canyons by hiking, climbing, rappelling and swimming through their rocky channels
2. Someone who travels down steep gorges and slot canyons using ropes, rappels and water routes for recreation
3. One who takes part in canyoneering, navigating the streams and cliffs of a ravine on foot or by descent

Etymology: Canyoneer is a plain formation: the noun "canyon" with the agent suffix "-er" added, giving a person who goes down canyons. The word describes a recreational activity in which people descend canyons by hiking, scrambling, swimming, rappelling down rock faces and sometimes jumping into pools, a pursuit that has grown popular in the American Southwest. The suffix "-er" is the same one found in "climber" or "hiker," so the word follows the pattern of many English names for people who practise an activity. "Canyon" itself came into English from Spanish "cañón," a word meaning a tube or large pipe, which in turn derives from "caña," meaning reed or cane. The Spanish sense transferred to the deep gorge because of the tube-like shape of a narrow valley between high walls.