Standard Lemma guide

prospector

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /pɹəˈspɛktə/
  • rhymes with -ɛktə(ɹ)
  • General-American: /ˈpɹɑsˌpɛktɚ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: P R AO1 S P EH2 K T ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A person who explores or prospects an area in search of mineral deposits, such as gold.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

someone who explores an area for mineral deposits

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: miner, mineworker

Narrower terms: sourdough

History

Etymology

From prospect + -or.

Across languages

Translations

24 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Bulgarian: златотърсач (zlatotǎrsač) — person
  • Chinese Mandarin: 採礦者 /采矿者 (cǎikuàngzhě) — person
  • Chinese Mandarin: 探礦者 /探矿者 (tànkuàngzhě) — person
  • Czech: zlatokop — person
  • Finnish: malminetsijä — person
  • French: prospecteur — person
  • French: prospectrice — person
  • German: Prospektor — person
  • German: Goldsucher — person
  • Irish: sirtheoir — person
  • Italian: prospettore — person
  • Italian: cercatore — person
  • Japanese: 探鉱者 (tankōsha) — person
  • Māori: kaihaurapa — person
  • Māori: kairapurapu — person
  • Norwegian Bokmål: skjerper — person
  • Polish: poszukiwacz — person
  • Portuguese: garimpeiro — person
  • Russian: стара́тель (starátelʹ) — person
  • Russian: золотоиска́тель (zolotoiskátelʹ) — person
  • Russian: геологоразве́дчик (geologorazvédčik) — person
  • Swedish: prospektor — person
  • Swedish: prospektör — person
  • Swedish: guldgrävare — person
Real reading context

prospector in complete knowledge articles