Coastal

How to spell coastal

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce coastal

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does coastal mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to, located on, or near the part of the land bordering the sea.

Coastal in a sentence

• The coastal road floods whenever a high tide meets heavy rain.

• They bought a small coastal cottage within walking distance of the harbour.

Where does coastal come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word builds on coast, which English took from the Old French coste, meaning a rib, a side, or the edge of something. That French word descended from the Latin costa, which literally meant 'rib' and, by extension, the side or flank of a body. Over time the sense of 'side' shifted toward the edge of the land where it meets the sea, giving English its 'coast' by the fourteenth century. The adjective coastal was formed much later, in the nineteenth century, simply by adding the everyday suffix -al meaning 'relating to'. The same costa root survives in 'costume' relatives like the Spanish costa for shore and in the anatomical term 'costal' meaning 'of the ribs', a reminder that the spelling keeps a single -t- before the smooth -al ending.

How the word is built

• coast (from Latin costa: rib, side, hence the edge of the land)
• -al (adjective suffix: relating to)