praia

See also: Praia

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese praia, from Medieval Latin plagia, possibly from plaga + Ancient Greek πλάγια (plágia). Cognate with Sicilian praja.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɾaja/ [ˈpɾa̠.jɐ]
• Rhymes: -aja
• Hyphenation: pra‧ia

Noun

praia f (plural praias)

1. beach (shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly)

   Synonym: grau

Further reading

• “praia”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• “praia”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2025

Old Galician-Portuguese

Alternative forms

• praya

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-?

Proto-Indo-European *pel-?

Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-der.

Medieval Latin plaga?

Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-der.

Ancient Greek πλάγος (plágos)

Proto-Indo-European *-yósder.

Ancient Greek -ιος (-ios)

Ancient Greek πλάγῐος (plágĭos)

Ancient Greek πλάγια (plágia)?

Medieval Latin plagia

Old Galician-Portuguese praia

From Medieval Latin plagia.

Noun

praia f (plural praias)

1. beach

Descendants

• Fala: playa
• Galician: praia
• Portuguese: praia, praya (obsolete)
  • → Hong Kong English: praya
  • → Hunsrik: Praia
  • → Nheengatu: praya

References

• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “praia”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2020–2025), “praia”, in Vocabulário histórico-cronológico do português medieval [Historical and chronological vocabulary of Medieval Portuguese] (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Fundação Casa de Rui Barbosa
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “praia”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega

Portuguese

Praia (1)

Alternative forms

• praya (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese praia, from Medieval Latin plagia, possibly from plaga + Ancient Greek πλάγια (plágia). Doublet of plaga.

Cognate with Galician praia, Sicilian praja, Spanish playa, Catalan platja, Occitan plaja, French plage and Italian spiaggia.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾaj.ɐ/ [ˈpɾaɪ̯.ɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾaj.ɐ/ [ˈpɾaɪ̯.ɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾaj.a/ [ˈpɾaɪ̯.a]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɾaj.ɐ/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ajɐ
• Hyphenation: prai‧a

Noun

praia f (plural praias)

1. beach (shore of a body of water, especially when sandy or pebbly)

   Near-synonyms: areal, beira-mar, margem

   O Brasil é conhecido pelas suas praias arenosas.

   Brazil is known for its sandy beaches.

   • 1572, Luís Vaz de Camões, “Canto Primeiro [First Song]”, in Os Luſiadas [The Lusiads], Lisbon: Casa de Antonio Gõçaluez, page 15r:

     Mas os Mouros que andauão pela praya, / Por lhe defender a agoa deſejada, / Hum de eſcudo embarcado, & de azagaya, / Outro de arco encuruado, & ſeta eruada: […]

     But the Moors who were around the beach, / to defend its desired water, / one who was embarked with a shield and an assegai, / other with a recurve bow and poisoned arrow: […]

2. (Brazil, slang) one's object or area of interest or fondness

   Matemática não é minha praia. ― I'm not keen on mathematics.

Derived terms

• baga-da-praia
• morrer na praia
• praia fluvial
• praiano
• praieiro
• (diminutive) prainha
• (augmentative) praiona
• ser a praia de alguém

Descendants

• → Hong Kong English: praya
• → Hunsrik: Praia
• → Nheengatu: praya

References

• “praia”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “praia”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “praia”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025

Further reading

• praia on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt