What does “металлоискатель” mean in Russian?

Металлоискатель is built in plain sight: металл (metal) + the verb искать (to search) + the suffix -тель, which turns a verb into “the one that does it.” Russian uses -тель for both people and devices — so the same ending that makes писатель (writer, from писать) and читатель (reader, from читать) also makes двигатель (engine) and огнетушитель (fire extinguisher). Spot the suffix once and dozens of nouns unlock themselves.

In the clip a man sweeps the beach with his металлоискатель and on the very first pass picks up a signal — recovering a platinum-and-diamond engagement ring a woman had lost while applying sunscreen. The word fits the scene perfectly: the device is literally doing the searching. Related forms follow the same build: искатель on its own means “seeker” or “prospector,” and the verb-root combination is common in technical Russian (выключатель, “switch,” from выключать, “to switch off”).