Coaster

How to spell coaster

7 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce coaster

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does coaster mean?

1. nounA small mat or disc placed under a glass or cup to protect a surface.
2. nounA fairground or theme-park track ride, short for roller coaster.

Coaster in a sentence

• She slid a cork coaster under his cold beer to save the table.

• The new coaster at the theme park drops nearly sixty metres.

• The cafe printed its logo on every cardboard coaster.

• He refused to queue for the wooden coaster near the entrance.

Where does coaster come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word grows out of the Latin costa, which literally meant 'rib' and by extension the 'side' or 'flank' of something. Through Old French coste it came into English to describe the side or edge of the land where it meets the sea, giving us the noun 'coast'. The verb 'to coast' first meant to sail along that edge, and a 'coaster' was originally a ship that traded from port to port without venturing into open water. The leisure sense in 'roller coaster' borrows the later idea of gliding freely without effort, while the small drinks mat is named because such trays once 'coasted' or slid around the dinner table so bottles could be passed. The shared costa root also survives in 'coastline' and, more surprisingly, in the anatomical word 'costal' meaning 'relating to the ribs'.

How the word is built

• coast (from Latin costa: rib, side, flank)
• -er (agent/instrument suffix)