costa

Unadapted borrowing from Latin costa (“a rib”). Doublet of coast.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒ.stə/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑ.stə/
• Rhymes: -ɒstə

costa (plural costas or costae)

1. (anatomy) Synonym of rib.
2. (botany, zootomy) A riblike part of a plant or animal, such as a midrib of a leaf or a thickened vein or the margin of an insect wing.
   1. (entomology) The vein forming the leading edge of most insect wings.

      Synonym: C

• bone
• guarda costa (etymologically unrelated)

• “costa”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “costa”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• Ascot, Casto, Coast, Coats, Cotas, Sacto, ascot, catso, coast, coats, octas, scato-, scoat, tacos

From Latin costa, possibly through the intermediate of another language; compare Spanish costa, Galician costa. Doublet of cuesta.

costa f (plural costes)

1. shore (land adjoining a large body of water)

• oriella

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈkɔs.tə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈkɔs.ta]

Inherited from Latin costa, from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.

costa f (plural costes)

1. coast
2. slope
3. rib
4. the underside of an insect's wing

• costal
• costàlgia
• costat

Deverbal from costar. First attested in 1598.

costa f (plural costes)

1. (law, usually in the plural) cost, expense (to be paid by the losing side)
2. cost, expense

   a costa de ― at the cost/expense of; at (someone's) expense

costa

1. inflection of costar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “costa”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “costa”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “costa” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “costa” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

From Old Galician-Portuguese costa, from Latin costa, from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔsta̝/

costa m (plural costas)

1. side; flank
   • 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 119:

     ffazese nas costas do Cauallo hũa door que faz jnchaço grande et geerase daquel jnchaço carnes podres, et esto ven da sella que he maa ou do gran carrego que o preme moito, et aas vezes dura moito este jnchaço, fazese ende hũa peça de carne poçoenta que chega aos osos et sal vinino ou agooa.

     There appear in the sides of the horse an ache that produces a large swelling and that swelling creates rotten flesh, and this is because of the saddle, that is of poor quality, or from the large load that presses much, and sometimes this swelling last a long time; it then appears a piece of venomous flesh that reaches the bones and pus or water comes out

2. slope
3. coast
4. (anatomy, in the plural) back

   Dóenme as costas

   My back hurts

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “costa”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “costa”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “costa”, 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), “costa”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “costa”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔs.ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔsta
• Hyphenation: cò‧sta

From Latin costa, from Proto-Indo-European *kost-. Cognate with French côte, Romanian coastă, and Spanish cuesta.

costa f (plural coste)

1. meanings related to the literal sense:
   1. (anatomy, uncommon) rib

      Synonym: costola

   2. (anatomy, by extension, archaic) flank, side

      Synonym: fianco

   3. (by extension, archaic) side, part

      Synonyms: lato, parte

2. (Romanesco) a cut of meat
3. synonym of costola:
   1. spine (of a book)

      Synonym: dorso

4. the blunt edge of a blade

   Synonym: dorso

   1. (botany) rib, vein

      Synonym: nervatura

   2. (architecture) rib
   3. (nautical) rib

      Synonym: corba

5. the side of a height
   1. slope (of a mountain)
6. a road going up the side of a hill
7. (in the plural) pastures along the slope of a mountain
8. coast, shoreline
9. welt (of fabric)

• costale
• costeggiare
• costereccio
• costiera
• costiero

• costato

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

costa

1. inflection of costare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

• costa in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• Tasco, casto, scato-, scota, tosca

costa

1. third-person singular present indicative of coster
2. third-person plural present indicative of coster
3. second-person singular imperative of coster

From Proto-Italic *ko(n/r)stā- (“rib”), of uncertain origin. Traditionally derived from Proto-Indo-European *kost-, and compared with Old Church Slavonic кость (kostĭ), Middle Persian [script needed] (kust), as well as *h₃ost- (“bone”), whence os (“bone”). However, de Vaan finds the connection with Slavic improbable and gives no etymology.^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔs.ta]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkɔs.t̪a]

costa f (genitive costae); first declension

1. (anatomy) a rib
2. (transferred sense) a side, a wall

   Costae navium.

   The sides of ships.

   Costae aheni.

   The sides of a cauldron.

   Tergora diripere costis.

   To tear off the skin.

First-declension noun.

• costābilis
• costālis
• costātus
• costella

• os

• “costa”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “costa”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "costa", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)

From Latin costa (“side, rib”), in later and Medieval Latin coming to mean “edge” or “coast”. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.

costa f (plural costas)

1. coast (shoreline)

   Synonyms: litoral, beira-mar

• Costa do Marfim
• Costa Rica

• коста (costa) — post-1930s Cyrillic spelling

Borrowed from Italian costare, from Latin constāre. Doublet of the inherited (now archaic) custa and consta, borrowed directly from Latin.

• IPA^(key): /kosˈta/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -a
• Hyphenation: cos‧ta

a costa (third-person singular present costă, past participle costat, third-person subjunctive coste) 1st conjugation

1. to cost

   Synonyms: (informal) face, (now only figurative) prețui

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔ.sta/, [ˈkɔ.sta], [ˈkɔ.ʃta]
• Rhymes: -osta
• Hyphenation: cò‧sta

Inherited from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”), later coming to mean “edge” or “coast” in Medieval Latin. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kost-.

costa f (plural costi)

1. meanings related to the literal sense:
   1. (anatomy) rib

      Synonym: còstula

   2. (anatomy, by extension) flank, side

      Synonyms: ciancu, ciancata

   3. (by extension) side, part

      Synonyms: ciancata, latata, latu, parti

2. (geology) slope (acclivity or declivity)

   Synonyms: calancu, pinnenza

   Jirisinni costi-costi.

   To go through the slopes.

3. (geography) coast, shoreline
4. (geography) a cuesta

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

costa

1. third-person singular present indicative of custari

• IPA^(key): /ˈkosta/ [ˈkos.t̪a]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -osta
• Syllabification: cos‧ta

Borrowed from Galician costa or Catalan costa. Compare also the inherited Spanish doublet cuesta.

costa f (plural costas)

1. coast, shore, coastline, shoreline

• litoral m
• orilla f

Deverbal from costar (“to cost”).

costa f (plural costas)

1. (in certain expressions) expense, costs

   vivir a costa de ― to live on the expense of

   a toda costa ― at all costs

• “costa”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024