Definition, synonyms and related words
A level area which habitually fills with water that evaporates entirely.
"The playa was ready to dance all night long at the festival."
A dude (an informal term of address or general term to describe a person, typically male).
In plain English: A playa is a dry lake bed that looks like flat, cracked mud when there isn't any water on it.
"We walked across the dry playa to reach the distant mountains."
Usage: Use playa to refer specifically to dry lake beds in arid regions rather than the slang term for a man. This word describes flat basins that fill seasonally and then harden into cracked mud or sand when they empty out completely.
The word playa was borrowed directly from the Spanish term meaning "beach." It entered English as a distinct variant alongside its doublet, plage.