playa

From Spanish playa (“beach”).

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈplaɪə/
• Rhymes: -aɪə

playa (plural playas)

1. (geology, US) A level area which habitually fills with water that evaporates entirely.
   • 2020, Diane Cook, The New Wilderness, Oneworld Publications, page 66:

     Beyond the valley below lay a playa, a vast dried-white lake bed, its ends reaching farther than they could see.

• salt flat, salt pan, alkali flat

• playa lake

From a non-rhotic pronunciation of player.

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpleɪə/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪə

playa (plural playas)

1. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A dude (an informal term of address or general term to describe a person, typically male).
2. (African-American Vernacular, slang) A player (someone who plays the field, or has prowess in gaining romantic and sexual relationships).

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

playa f (plural playas)

1. beach

• Bal Palazios, Santiago (2002), “playa”, in Dizionario breu de a luenga aragonesa, Zaragoza, →ISBN

playa f (plural playes)

1. beach

From Spanish playa.

playa

1. beach
2. "the town" (in Aruba)

• Audio (Colombia)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʝa
• Syllabification: pla‧ya

From Late Latin plagia, from Latin plaga. Compare Portuguese praia, French plage, Italian spiaggia.

playa f (plural playas)

1. beach
   • 1989, “Aquí no hay playa”, performed by The Refrescos:

     Afirmaréis seguros que es la capital de España / Pero al llegar agosto, ¡vaya, vaya! / Aquí no hay playa

     You will surely affirm that it is the capital of Spain / But when August arrives, wow, wow! / There is no beach here

2. car park

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

playa

1. feminine singular of playo

• “playa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014