Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: PLAYA |
PLAYANoun1. A beach; a strand; in the plains and deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, a broad, level spot, on which subsequently becomes dry by evaporation. |
Date "PLAYA" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1840. (references) |
Etymology: Playa \Pla"ya\, noun. [Spanish expression]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Geography | Dry, vegetation-free, flat area at the lowest part of an undrained desert basin, underlain by stratified clay, silt or sand, and commonly by soluble salts. Source: European Union. (references) |
Geological | Playas are shallow, short-lived lakes that form where water drains into basins with no outlet to the sea and quickly evaporates. Playas are common features in arid (desert) regions and are among the flattest landforms in the world. (references) |
Mining | A. A term used in southwestern United States for a dry, vegetation-free, flat area at the lowest part of an undrained desert basin, underlain by stratified clay, silt, or sand, and commonly by soluble salts. The term is also applied to the basin containing an expanse of playa, which may be marked by ephemeral lakes. See also:salina; alkali flat; salt flat; salar. Syn:dry lake b. See:playa lake c. A small, generally sandy land area at the mouth of a stream or alongthe shore of a bay. Etymol: Spanish, beach, shore, coast. (references) |
Slang | Noun. Source: Uncertain, however, play means to engage in a game or recreation. Definition: A Ladies Man. Context: To describe a younger male around 18 and 20. Social Source: African American "Rappers". Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Land | Coast, shore, scar, strand, beach; playa; bank, lea; seaboard, seaside, seabank, seacoast, seabeach; ironbound coast; loom of the land; derelict; innings; alluvium, alluvion; ancon. |
Plain | Noun: plain, table-land, face of the country; open country, champaign country; basin, downs, waste, weary waste, desert, wild, steppe, pampas, savanna, prairie, heath, common, wold, veldt; moor, moorland; bush; plateau. (level); campagna; alkali flat, llano; mesa, mesilla, playa; shaking prairie, trembling prairie; vega. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: PLAYA |
| Specialty definitions using "PLAYA": claypan ♦ lime pan. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "PLAYA" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Papiamen (beach, city, town), Portuguese (dry lake, kavir, playa, sabkha, takir, vloer), Spanish (beach, foreshore, front, resort, sands, seashore, seaside, shore, strand, watering place). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Lyrics | Make the playa haters believers (Are You That Somebody; performing artist: Aaliyah) With Your baby moma playa is where u can find me (Still Fly; performing artist: Big Tymers) Playa stop it (Jumpin', Jumpin' (So So Def Remix); performing artist: Destiny's Child) Gettin my flirt on, playa, ain't nuttin (Get Me Home; performing artist: FOXY) I’m doin’ better without you, playa, and I’m happy without you, playa, (Son Of A Gun (I Betcha Think This Song Is About You); performing artist: Janet Jackson) | |
Movie/TV Titles | En una playa junto al mar (1971) Playa y toros II. Bilbao - San Sebastián Sol (1969) La Playa de las seducciones (1967) Espacio de playa (1967) Música ambiental Villa Delicia: playa de estacionamiento (1966) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Theater & Movies | |
Music |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Playa Jobos Beach near Isabela. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Looking from the cliffs at Playa de Pajaros. The restoration site is to the right in the photograph. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | Landsailers ready their dirt boats on the Black Rock Desert playa, near Gerlach, Nevada. Credit: Mike Bilbo. |  | Playa above the NarrowsOregon TrailLower Snake River District. Credit: W. Meyer. |
 | View of the Black Rock from the playa, Black Rock Desert, near Gerlach, Nevada. Credit: Richard H. Brown. |  | Open playa, Black Rock Desert, Gerlach, Nevada. Credit: Richard H. Brown. |
 | In the Alvord Desert on the Alvord Playa looking at the Steens escarpment. (WSA 2-74). Credit: Scott Moore. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Playa Jibacoa - Cuba" by Michele Falzone Commentary: "A nice sunset in Cuba. enjoy." | "Playa Del Carmen Beach 5" by Olivier Borgognon Commentary: "A few shots by day and dawn of playa del Carmen harbour and beaches, with Canon Ixus 300 no compression." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| "PLAYA" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 86.96% of the time. "PLAYA" is used about 23 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 86.96% | 20 | 78,262 |
| Noun (singular) | 13.04% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 23 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "PLAYA": La Playa ♦ Playa Del Rey ♦ Playa Fortuna. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
playa del carmen | 5,201 | playa de las america | 52 |
playa del carmen mexico | 1,596 | playa del carmen weather | 50 |
playa | 1,245 | playa bonita | 50 |
playa del carmen hotel | 867 | playa grande | 47 |
playa del carmen resort | 623 | la playa hotel | 46 |
playa del carmen beach | 524 | playa blanca | 45 |
carmen de playa | 156 | sexo en la playa | 45 |
ebony playa | 153 | playa dorada | 45 |
paradisus playa conchal | 148 | chicas en la playa | 41 |
playa fly | 119 | playa del rey | 41 |
playa del rey ca | 111 | de palma playa | 41 |
playa vista | 110 | iberostar playa del carmen | 40 |
pesquero playa | 104 | hotel playa mazatlan | 40 |
oasis playa | 103 | playa del carmen real estate | 38 |
la playa | 100 | playa linda | 38 |
playa del ingles | 86 | playa del carmen all inclusive | 37 |
playa del carmen map | 85 | melia playa conchal | 36 |
playa nudista | 85 | carma del playa | 36 |
playa divx | 80 | playa azul | 34 |
oasis cancun playa | 61 | playa grande resort | 34 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "PLAYA"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Danish | playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
Dutch | playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
Finnish | playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
French | playa. (various references) | |
German | Playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
Greek | συλλεκτήρια λεκάνη (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
Italian | playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ayaplay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer), planície salgada (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
Swedish | playa (dry lake, kavir, sabkha, takir, vloer). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "PLAYA": playabilities, playability, playable, playact, playacted, playacting, playactings, playacts, playas. (additional references) | |
Words containing "PLAYA": displayable, unplayable. (additional references) | |
| |
"PLAYA" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: laya, Nleya, oleya, palay, Palca, Palika, Paya, Payan, payi, payu, Payva, pbaa, Pelayo, Phayao, plagal, plagy, plaka, plama, plana, plata, plava, playd, playe, playi, playn, Playway, pleia, pleye, Pleyel, plye, plyha, Poltawa, polybag, praya. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "PLAYA" (pronounced 'Pla"ya'): Baya, Khaya, Maya, Piraya, Pitahaya, Sankhya, Vaisya. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-l-p-y" | |
-1 letter: paly, play. | |
-2 letters: aal, ala, alp, lap, lay, pal, pay, ply, pya, yap. | |
-3 letters: aa, al, ay, la, pa, ya. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-l-p-y" | |
+1 letter: parlay, payola, playas. | |
+2 letters: airplay, apetaly, capably, claypan, palmary, palmyra, papally, papyral, parlays, payable, payably, payload, payolas, playact, playday. | |
+3 letters: airplays, anaglyph, anyplace, apically, atypical, calyptra, claypans, kalyptra, ladypalm, lapidary, mayapple, paleways, palmyras, palpably, paralyse, paralyze, parlayed, passably, payables, payloads, placably, plagiary, playable, playacts, playback, playdate, playdays, playland, playmate, playwear, polygala, tympanal. | |
+4 letters: allopatry, amblyopia, ampullary, anaglyphs, calyptras, capillary, capitally, catalepsy, cataplexy, dysplasia, hypallage, incapably, kalyptras, ladypalms, mayapples, palatably, palatally, palmately, papillary, paralysed, paralyses, paralysis, paralytic, paralyzed, paralyzer, paralyzes, paramylum, parlaying, partially, peaceably, phrasally, placatory, planarity, planetary, playacted, playbacks, playdates, playlands, playmaker, playmates, polyantha, polygalas, portrayal, propylaea, pyramidal, rampantly, repayable, slaphappy, spatially, synalepha. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
