platea

See also: Platea

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin platēa, from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa, “street”). Doublet of piazza.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈtɛ.a/
• Rhymes: -ɛa
• Hyphenation: pla‧tè‧a

Noun

platea f (plural platee)

1. stall/orchestra seat (a seat in a theatre/theater close to the stage)
2. (by extension) audience

   Synonym: pubblico

Derived terms

• plateale

Anagrams

• palate, pelata

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πλᾰτεῖᾰ (plăteîă), shortening of πλατεῖα ὁδός (plateîa hodós, “broad way”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [pɫaˈteː.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [plaˈtɛː.a]

Noun

platēa f (genitive platēae); first declension

1. broad way, street

   Near-synonyms: angiportus, vīculus (Medieval Latin)

2. (post-classical) open space, area, courtyard

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	platēa	platēae
genitive	platēae	platēārum
dative	platēae	platēīs
accusative	platēam	platēās
ablative	platēā	platēīs
vocative	platēa	platēae

Descendants

• Corsican: piazza
• Dalmatian: plaza
• Emilian: piâza
• Extremaduran: praça
• Franco-Provençal: place
• Friulian: place
• Istriot: piassa
• Italian: piazza (see there for further descendants)
• Ligurian: ciassa
• Neapolitan: chiazza
• Old French: place (see there for further descendants)
  • French: place
  • Franc-Comtois: pyaice
  • Norman: plache (through Old Northern French plache)
  • Walloon: plaece
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: plaça
  • Occitan: plaça
• Romansh: plaz, plaza, plazza
• Sicilian: chiazza

Borrowings

• → Gothic: 𐍀𐌻𐌰𐍀𐌾𐌰 (plapja)
• → Italian: platea
• → Old English: plæċe
  • Middle English: place, plaace, plache, plas, plasce, plase, plasse (conflated with Old French place)
    • English: place (dialectal pleace)
      • Pijin: ples
      • Tok Pisin: ples
    • Scots: place, pleece
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: praça, plaça, plaza, praza (semi-learned)
  • Fala: praza
  • Galician: praza
  • Portuguese: praça (see there for further descendants)
• → Old Spanish: (semi-learned)
  • Spanish: plaza (see there for further descendants)
• → Portuguese: plateia
• → Spanish: platea

Noun

platea

1. alternative form of platalea

References

• “platea”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “platea”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "platea", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “platea”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “platea”, in The Perseus Project (1999), Perseus Encyclopedia‎^[1]
• “platea”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /plaˈtea/ [plaˈt̪e.a]
• Rhymes: -ea
• Syllabification: pla‧te‧a

Etymology 1

Learned borrowing from Latin platēa, from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa, “street”). Doublet of plaza.

Noun

platea f (plural plateas)

1. stalls/orchestra seats (of a theatre)

Etymology 2

Verb

platea

1. inflection of platear:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “platea”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025