playa

1 of 2

noun (1)

pla·​ya ˈplī-ə How to pronounce playa (audio)
: the flat-floored bottom of an undrained desert basin that becomes at times a shallow lake

playa

2 of 2

noun (2)

variant spelling of player sense f

Examples of playa in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Get your fill fun at theme camps, but plan several long excursions to visit the hundreds of day and night art installations spread across the open playa. Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee, 25 Jan. 2024 Lots of bathers under umbrellas at the 'playa', the city's sandy beach, to find refreshment on a scorching hot Sunday with a maximum alert level for high temperatures on July 16, 2023 in Catania, Italy. Caitlin O'Kane, CBS News, 30 Jan. 2024 Boots – Flip flops are great for the beach but not the playa. Ed Fletcher, Sacramento Bee, 25 Jan. 2024 Doused by days of rain, thousands of people stuck on the muddy playa at the Burning Man festival began to trickle out of the remote area in northwest Nevada on Monday. Ben Poston, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2023 See all Example Sentences for playa 

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'playa.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

Spanish, literally, beach, from Late Latin plagia — more at plage

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1854, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of playa was in 1854

Dictionary Entries Near playa

Cite this Entry

“Playa.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/playa. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.

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