area

Learned borrowing from Latin ārea.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɛə.ɹɪ.ə/, [ˈɛː.ɹɪ.ə]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (US) enPR: ĕʼrē-ə; IPA^(key): /ˈɛɹ.i.ə/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ˈerɪjɑ/
• Hyphenation: a‧re‧a, ar‧e‧a
• Rhymes: -ɛəɹi.ə

area (plural areas or areæ)

2. (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^[1]:

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

3. A particular geographic region.
   • 2022 March 8, Sarah DeWeerdt, “Barcelona-style “superblocks” could make a surprising number of cities greener and less car-centric”, in Anthropocene Magazine‎^[2], archived from the original on 20 October 2022:

     Eggimann used a computer algorithm to analyze data from the open-source geographic database OpenStreetMap and automatically detect areas with the superblock potential. He applied this analysis to 5 km x 5 km areas of the city center in 18 different cities around the world.

4. Any particular extent of surface, especially an empty or unused extent.

   The photo is a little dark in that area.

5. The extent, scope, or range of an object or concept.

   The plans are a bit vague in that area.

   • 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.

   • 2015 July 24, Gareth Cook, “The Singular Mind of Terry Tao”, in The New York Times Magazine‎^[3], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 18 March 2020:

     The Green-Tao theorem on primes was a similar collaboration. Green is a specialist in an area called number theory, and Tao originally trained in an area called harmonic analysis.

6. (British) An open space, below ground level, giving access to the basement of a house, and typically separated from the pavement by railings. [from 18th c.]
   • 1790, Helen Maria Williams, Julia, Routledge, published 2016, page 95:

     A boy seized it, whom she bribed with a shilling to relinquish his prize, which she was taking home, when it escaped from her hand, and fell down the area of a house.

   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, chapter 4, in Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     This was so favourably received by the milkman and beadle that he would immediately have been pushed into the area if I had not held his pinafore while Richard and Mr. Guppy ran down through the kitchen to catch him when he should be released.

   • 1865, Anthony Trollope, “LXVI. Lady Monk's Plan”, in Can You Forgive Her?‎^[4]:

     He crept down the back stairs; but as he could not quite condescend to escape through the area, he was forced to emerge upon the hall, and here his aunt pounced upon him, coming out of the breakfast-parlour.

   • 1908, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans:

     A minute later we were both in the area. Hardly had we reached the dark shadows before the step of the policeman was heard in the fog above. As its soft rhythm died away, Holmes set to work upon the lower door. I saw him stoop and strain until with a sharp crash it flew open. We sprang through into the dark passage, closing the area door behind us.

7. (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.

8. (slang) Genitals.
   • 2003 October 2, “The One Where Ross Is Fine”, in Friends, season 10, episode 2, spoken by Frank Buffay Jr. (Giovanni Ribisi), via 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

• Audio:

  (file)

area (plural areas)

1. area

• leerarea

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

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾea/
• Rhymes: -ea
• Syllabification: a‧re‧a

area f (plural areas)

1. sand

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎^[5], 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN

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

• IPA^(key): /aˈɾea/ [aˈɾe.ɐ]
• Rhymes: -ea
• Hyphenation: a‧re‧a

area f (plural areas)

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

   Synonyms: xabre, saibro

4. (dated) beach, cove

   Synonyms: areal, praia, arnela

• área

• “area”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2026
• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “area”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “area”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “area”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “area”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “area”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Learned borrowing from Latin ārea.

• IPA^(key): [ˈarɛa]
• Hyphenation: arèa

arèa (plural area-area)

1. area:
   1. a particular geographic region

      Synonym: daerah

   2. any particular extent of surface, especially an empty or unused extent

      Synonym: kawasan

• “area”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Learned borrowing from Latin ārea. Doublet of aia (“threshing floor”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈa.re.a/
• Rhymes: -area
• Hyphenation: à‧re‧a

area f (plural aree)

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

• areale

• aera

Of disputed etymology:

• Either from Proto-Italic *āzeā, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eHs-e-yeh₂, from *h₂eHs- (“to burn”) (whence āreō, ārā),^[1]
• Or from Proto-Italic *āreā, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eh₂r-e-yeh₂, from *h₂eh₂rh₃- (“threshing tool”) (cognate with Hittite [script needed] (ḫaḫḫar, “rake, threshing tool”)), resultative reduplicated noun from verb *h₂erh₃- (“to plough”).^[2]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.re.a]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) 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

First-declension noun.

• ārealis
• āreola

Borrowings:

• “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, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 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

area

1. area

area f (plural areas)

1. pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of área

Learned borrowing from Latin ārea (literally “vacant piece of level ground”).

area c

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