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playa

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playa¹

  • /ˈplaɪə/ US

Rhymes with -aɪə

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Spanish playa (“beach”). Doublet of plage.

noun playas

  1. US A level area which habitually fills with water that evaporates entirely. Beyond the valley below lay a playa, a vast dried-white lake bed, its ends reaching farther than they could see.

playa²

  • /ˈpleɪə/ US

Sounds like player (non-rhotic) · Rhymes with -eɪə

Where it comes from

From a non-rhotic pronunciation of player.

noun playas

  1. error unknown tag, slang A dude (an informal term of address or general term to describe a person, typically male).
  2. error unknown tag, slang A player (someone who plays the field, or has prowess in gaining romantic and sexual relationships). What Pimp was asking me to do was crazy. Off the fuckin' chain. Insane. He was scheming to stick up T.C. and Miss Lady's pool hall so we could pay off G, but a playa like me was getting ready to go to college and put all that two-bit robbing and stealing shit behind me.

Playa³

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Papiamentu playa (“beach, town”).

proper noun

  1. Aruba, Caribbean, Netherlands, informal The capital city of Aruba, Netherlands
  2. Caribbean, Netherlands, informal The capital city of Bonaire, Netherlands

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: mudflat, beach, playa lake, salt flat, saltflat, salt pan, sandplain, splash pad, polynya, soak, pool, overwash, wash, surface layer, seaspray, overflow pool

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Cite this
MLA

"playa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/playa. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

playa. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/playa

Chicago

"playa." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/playa.

BibTeX
@misc{playa_2026,
  title = {playa},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/playa},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}