Spanish Word of the Day Archive
Sunday January 25, 2009

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raya, noun:
ray

There are some Spanish words which look identical to each other apart from their gender and ending. Today we’re looking at una raya, a line. In the Word of the Day archive you’ll find un rayo, a ray. The basic meaning of raya is of a line:

Trazó una raya en la arena.
She drew a line in the sand.

A related meaning is stripe, often used in the phrase a rayas:

una camisa a rayas
a striped shirt

And another meaning conceptually related to line, is the parting in your hair:

Me hago la raya en medio.
I have my parting in the middle.

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