costa
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkɒ.stə/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈkɑ.stə/
- Rhymes: -ɒstə
Noun
Translations
See also
- bone
- guarda costa (etymologically unrelated)
References
- “costa”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
- “costa”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
Asturian
Catalan
Etymology 1
From Latin costa, from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.
Derived terms
- Costa Brava
- Costa Daurada
- Costa del Sol
- Costa d'Ivori
- Costa d'Or
- costaner
- Costa Oest dels Estats Units
- costejar
- costella
- coster
Verb
costa
Further reading
- “costa” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
- “costa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2023
- “costa” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
- “costa” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
Galician

Etymology
From Old Galician and Old Portuguese costa, from Latin costa, from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɔsta̝/
Noun
costa m (plural costas)
- side; flank
- 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, Tratado de Albeitaria. Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 119:
- ffazese nas costas do Cauallo hũa door que faz jnchaço grande et geerase daquel jnchaço carnes podres, et esto ven da sella que he maa ou do gran carrego que o preme moito, et aas vezes dura moito este jnchaço, fazese ende hũa peça de carne poçoenta que chega aos osos et sal vinino ou agooa.
- There appear in the sides of the horse an ache that produces a large swelling and that swelling creates rotten flesh, and this is because of the saddle, that is of poor quality, or from the large load that presses much, and sometimes this swelling last a long time; it then appears a piece of venomous flesh that reaches the bones and pus or water comes out
- ffazese nas costas do Cauallo hũa door que faz jnchaço grande et geerase daquel jnchaço carnes podres, et esto ven da sella que he maa ou do gran carrego que o preme moito, et aas vezes dura moito este jnchaço, fazese ende hũa peça de carne poçoenta que chega aos osos et sal vinino ou agooa.
- 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, Tratado de Albeitaria. Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 119:
- slope
- coast
- (anatomy, in the plural) back
- Dóenme as costas
- My back hurts
Derived terms
References
- “costa” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “costa” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “costa” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
- “costa” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
- “costa” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkɔ.sta/
- Rhymes: -ɔsta
- Hyphenation: cò‧sta
Etymology 1
From Latin costa, from Proto-Indo-European *kost-. Cognate with French côte, Romanian coastă, and Spanish cuesta.
Noun
costa f (plural coste)
Derived terms
- costale
- costeggiare
- costereccio
- costiera
- costiero
Related terms
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Verb
costa
- inflection of costare:
- third-person singular present indicative
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
- costa in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
Ladin
Latin
Etymology
From Proto-Indo-European *kost- (compare Old Church Slavonic кость (kostĭ), Middle Persian [Term?] (kust) ); compare *h₃ost-, whence os (“bone”). However, de Vaan finds the connection with Slavic improbable and gives no etymology.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈkos.ta/, [ˈkɔs̠t̪ä]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈkos.ta/, [ˈkɔst̪ä]
Noun
costa f (genitive costae); first declension
Inflection
First-declension noun.
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | costa | costae |
Genitive | costae | costārum |
Dative | costae | costīs |
Accusative | costam | costās |
Ablative | costā | costīs |
Vocative | costa | costae |
Descendants
- Aromanian: coastã
- → Asturian: costa, cuesta
- → Catalan: costa
- Dalmatian: cuasta
- → English: costa
- Friulian: cueste
- → Galician: costa
- → Italian: costa
- → Occitan: còsta
- → Old French: coste
- → Portuguese: costa
- Romanian: coastă
- → Romansch: costa
- Sardinian: colta, → costa
- Sicilian: costa
- Spanish: cuesta, → costa
- → Venetian: costa
See also
References
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN
- “costa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “costa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- costa in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
Portuguese

Etymology
From Latin costa (“side, rib”), in later and Medieval Latin coming to mean “edge” or “coast”. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈkɔs.tɐ/
- (Rio de Janeiro) IPA(key): /ˈkɔʃ.tɐ/
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈkɔs.ta/
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈkɔʃ.tɐ/
Derived terms
Romanian
Etymology
Borrowed from Italian costare, from Latin constāre, present active infinitive of constō. Doublet of the inherited (now archaic) custa and consta, borrowed directly from Latin.
Verb
a costa (third-person singular present costă, past participle costat) 1st conj.
Conjugation
infinitive | a costa | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
gerund | costând | ||||||
past participle | costat | ||||||
number | singular | plural | |||||
person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | 1st person | 2nd person | 3rd person | |
indicative | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele | |
present | cost | coști | costă | costăm | costați | costă | |
imperfect | costam | costai | costa | costam | costați | costau | |
simple perfect | costai | costași | costă | costarăm | costarăți | costară | |
pluperfect | costasem | costaseși | costase | costaserăm | costaserăți | costaseră | |
subjunctive | eu | tu | el/ea | noi | voi | ei/ele | |
present | să cost | să coști | să coste | să costăm | să costați | să coste | |
imperative | — | tu | — | — | voi | — | |
affirmative | costă | costați | |||||
negative | nu costa | nu costați |
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkosta/ [ˈkos.t̪a]
Audio (Latin America) (file) - Rhymes: -osta
- Syllabification: cos‧ta
Etymology 1
Borrowed from Galician costa or Catalan costa. Compare also the inherited Spanish doublet cuesta.
Etymology 2
From costar (“to cost”).
Noun
costa f (plural costas)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “costa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014