Strata

How to spell strata

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce strata

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does strata mean?

1. nounLayers of rock, sediment, or other material arranged one above another; also, the plural of stratum used for distinct levels of society.

Strata in a sentence

• The cliff face revealed coloured strata of ancient rock.

• Geologists dated each of the buried strata from core samples.

Where does strata come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is the plural of stratum, taken directly from Latin, where stratum was the past participle of sternere, a verb meaning 'to spread out' or 'to lay down flat'. A stratum was literally a covering that had been spread over a surface, such as a bedspread, a paved layer, or a horizontal sheet of material. Scientists of the 1600s adopted the word to describe the visible layers of rock and soil laid down one above another, and the Latin neuter plural strata came along to name several such layers at once. The same sternere root spread into English elsewhere: it lies behind 'street' (a paved, laid-down way) and behind 'prostrate' (laid flat on the ground). Because strata is a borrowed Latin plural, the spelling keeps the -a ending rather than an English -s, and that single trailing 'a' (not 'er' or 'a-um') is the small detail writers most often have to pause over.

How the word is built

• strat- (from Latin stratum: something spread or laid down)
• -a (Latin neuter plural ending)