What does "carabiner" mean?

A metal link with a gate that can open and close, generally used for clipping ropes to anchors or other objects.

What is a synonym for "carabiner"?

Common synonyms include: biner, biner, crab, crab, karabiner, krab.

Pronounced //ˈkɛ.ɹəˌbi.nɚ//.

//ˈkɛ.ɹəˌbi.nɚ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
A metal link with a gate that can open and close, generally used for clipping ropes to anchors or other objects.
"A carrabeener (metal clasp used in rock climbing) inside the pipes was devised as a release out, a tactic lent to them by Greenpeace."
2
an oblong metal ring with a spring clip; used in mountaineering to attach a rope to a piton or to connect two ropes wordnet

"I have a keyring with a carabiner with a dynamo lamp."

Shortened from German Karabinerhaken. Related to carabine and carbine.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.