playa
playa Lexical Profile
playa Game Scores & Validity
• noun
North American A flat, dried-up, undrained desert basin in an arid region, especially in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, that temporarily fills with water after heavy rain before evaporating to leave mud or salt deposits.
"After the summer monsoon, the arid playa briefly transformed into a shallow, shimmering sheet of water."
American (slang) A nonstandard phonetic respelling of 'player', denoting a person who pursues multiple romantic or sexual partners simultaneously, or someone who is smooth, streetwise, and successful.
"He liked to act like a smooth playa, though his friends knew how shy he really was."
Word Nuance & Usage
In standard geological English, 'playa' (pronounced /ˈplaɪ.ə/) refers to an arid desert basin, whereas in informal American slang, 'playa' (pronounced /ˈpleɪ.ə/) is a phonetic spelling of 'player'.
• Rhymes for playa
Word Origin & Etymology
The geological term was borrowed in the mid-19th century from American Spanish playa ('shore, beach'), ultimately from Late Latin plagia ('flat coast'). The slang sense is a late 20th-century phonetic respelling of the English word 'player'.