area

Borrowed from Latin area.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛə̯ɹɪə̯/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈæɹ.i.ə/, /ˈɛɹ.i.ə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio

  (file)

area (plural areas or areæ)

1. (mathematics) A measure of the extent of a surface; it is measured in square units.
   • 2018, VOA Learning English > China's Melting Glacier Brings Visitors, Adds to Climate Concerns

     It is about 4.5 million square kilometers in area and holds the world’s third largest collection of ice after Antarctica and Greenland.

2. A particular geographic region.
3. Any particular extent of surface, especially an empty or unused extent.

   The photo is a little dark in that area.

4. The extent, scope, or range of an object or concept.
   • 2013 September-October, Rob Dorit, “Making Life from Scratch”, in American Scientist:

     Today, a new area of research that similarly aims to mimic a complex biological phenomenon—life itself—is taking off. Synthetic biology, a seductive experimental subfield in the life sciences, seems tantalizingly to promise custom-designed life created in the laboratory.

   The plans are a bit vague in that area.

5. (Britain) An open space, below ground level, between the front of a house and the pavement.

   (Can we date this quote?), Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans:

   We sprang through into the dark passage, closing the area door behind us.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Charles Dickens to this entry?)

6. (soccer) Penalty box; penalty area.
   • 2010 December 29, Mark Vesty, “Wigan 2-2 Arsenal”, in BBC:

     Bendtner's goal-bound shot was well saved by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi but fell to Arsahvin on the edge of the area and the Russian swivelled, shaped his body and angled a sumptuous volley into the corner.

7. (slang) Genitals.
   • 2003 October 2, Giovanni Ribisi as Frank Buffay Jr., “The One Where Ross Is Fine”, in Friends, season 10, episode 2, NBC:

     But what do I do when the third one runs at me with his bike helmet on? I got no more hands to protect my area!

• areal

• Imperial: square inches, square feet, square yards, square miles, acres
• Metric: square meters/square metres, square centimeters/square centimetres, square kilometers/square kilometres, hectares

• Aare, æra

area (plural areas)

1. area

• leerarea

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese arẽa, from Latin arēnā (“sand”). Cognate with Portuguese areia and Spanish arena.

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾea̝/

area f (plural areas)

1. sand (a grain)
2. (figuratively) a grain of salt
3. sand (collectively)

   Synonym: xabre

4. (dated) beach, cove

   Synonyms: areal, praia

• área

• “area” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006-2012.
• “area” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• “area” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006-2013.
• “area” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “area” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

Borrowed from Latin ārea. Doublet of Italian aia (“threshing floor”).

area f (plural aree)

1. area, surface
2. land, ground
3. field, sector

• areale

• aera

• Either from Proto-Italic *āz-eyā-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-eyeh₂-, from *h₂eHs- (“to burn”) (whence āreō, ārā),
• Or from Proto-Italic *ār-eyā-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂r-eyeh₂-, from *h₂eh₂rh₃- (“threshing tool”) (cognate with Hittite [script needed] (ḫaḫḫar, “rake, threshing tool”)), resultative reduplicated noun from verb *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).[1]

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.re.a/

ārea f (genitive āreae); first declension

1. a piece of level ground, a vacant place (esp. in the town)
2. ground for a house, a building-spot
3. (figuratively) a vacant space around or in a house, a court
4. (figuratively) an open space for games, an open play-ground
5. (figuratively) a threshing floor
6. (figuratively) the halo around the sun or moon
7. (figuratively) a bed or border in a garden
8. (figuratively) a fowling-floor
9. (figuratively) a burying-ground, church-yard
10. (figuratively) a bald spot upon the head, baldness
11. vocative singular of ārea

āreā f

1. ablative singular of ārea

First declension.

• ārealis
• āreola

• area in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• area in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• area in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• area in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• area in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• area in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

• aera

From Spanish área and English area.

area

1. area

area f (plural areas)

1. Obsolete spelling of área

area c

1. (geometry) area; a measure of squared distance.