"beach" in seven languages
Meaningbeach
Spanish
/ˈplaʝa/
fem.inherited
Keeps pl- where the sound law predicts ll-; the exact route of the word is debated.
French
/plaʒ/
fem.borrowed · Italian piaggia 'slope, shore'
Italian
/ˈspjaddʒa/
fem.inherited
The initial s- is not well explained; older piaggia meant 'hillside'.
Portuguese
/ˈpɾajɐ/
fem.inherited
Portuguese often turned pl- into pr-: PLAGIAM → praia.
Romanian
/ˈplaʒə/
fem.borrowed · French plage
Catalan
/ˈpladʒə/
fem.inherited
English
/bitʃ/
native English · uncertain, perhaps Old English bæce 'stream'
The Latin ancestor
PLAGIAM‘shore (Late Latin, from Greek plágios 'slanting')’
All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.
The story
A beach is literally a 'slope' down to the water. French took the word from Italian in the Middle Ages, which is why it shows no native sound change.
Learn it
In a sentence
- esPasamos el día en la playa.
- frOn passe la journée à la plage.
- itPassiamo la giornata in spiaggia.
- ptPassamos o dia na praia.
- roPetrecem ziua la plajă.
- caPassem el dia a la platja.
- enWe spend the day at the beach.