playa
/ˈplaʝa/ · A2 · noun · f
beach
🏖️ playa = a place to PLAY-a in the sand; cousin of French plage
From Late Latin plagia (shore, slope), the same root as French plage and Italian spiaggia. The first syllable sounds like English play, which is what people do at the beach. In some Latin American countries a playa is also a flat open lot for parking.