Caldera literally means "cauldron" in Spanish — the Yellowstone supervolcano sits inside one, and the word entered science from a crater on the Canary Islands.
A large volcanic crater formed by the collapse of the ground surface after an eruption empties the magma chamber beneath. Can be miles wide.
From Spanish caldera (cauldron, boiler), from Late Latin caldaria (cooking pot), from Latin calidus (warm, hot), from calēre (to be warm) Key roots: calidus (Latin: "warm, hot"), *kelh₁- (Proto-Indo-European: "warm, hot").
Caldera, cauldron, and chowder are all siblings — each descends from Latin calidus ("hot"). The largest known caldera on Earth is the Toba caldera in Sumatra (100 km × 30 km), formed by a supervolcanic eruption approximately 74,000 years ago that may have nearly driven humanity to extinction. Yellowstone National Park sits atop a caldera 72 km long — and the magma chamber beneath it is still active. The word entered geology from the Caldera de Taburiente on La Palma,