diga

dam, dike

noun DEE-gah Rare

Origin: From Old French digue, of Germanic origin.

Usage Note

Diga means both a dam across a river (la diga sul Po) and a sea dike or breakwater (la diga foranea of a harbour). The plural is le dighe. Note the -gh- spelling to preserve the hard 'g' sound before the front vowel -e.

Examples

"La diga trattiene l'acqua del lago artificiale."

Natural Translation

The dam holds back the water of the artificial lake.

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