playa

American  

[plahy-uh] / ˈplaɪ ə /

noun

1. Western U.S. the sandy, salty, or mud-caked flat floor of a desert basin having interior drainage, usually occupied by a shallow lake during or after prolonged, heavy rains.

---

playa British  

/ ˈplɑːjə, ˈplaja /

noun

1. (in the US) a temporary lake, or its dry often salty bed, in a desert basin

---

playa Scientific  

/ plī′ə /

1. A dry lake bed at the bottom of a desert basin, sometimes temporarily covered with water. Playas have no vegetation and are among the flattest geographical features in the world.

2. Also called sink

---

Etymology

Origin of playa

1850–55, < Spanish: shore < Late Latin plagia; plage

Example Sentences

Private-equity firm Sycamore Partners in late 2024 struck a deal for the acai-bowl chain Playa Bowls.

From The Wall Street Journal

"The unexpected part of this wasn't the salt lens that we see near the surface across the playa. It's that the freshwater underneath it extends so far in towards the interior of the lake and possibly under the entire lake. We don't know," Johnson said on a recent appearance on KPCW's Cool Science Radio show.

From Science Daily

"To me, that's a primary objective because it's very practical and it's unlikely we'll be able to fill Farmington Bay and other parts of the playa enough to avoid some dust spots appearing at the higher elevations. This would be a great way to get at that."

From Science Daily

Their analysis shows that the basement beneath the playa is relatively shallow, less than 200 meters deep, before dropping sharply to depths of 3 to 4 kilometers.

From Science Daily

As the sun peeked out from behind the clouds at 9:30 a.m. on the day after a rainy Saturday, the strollers at Runway Playa Vista rolled in.

From Los Angeles Times