cuesta

See also: Cuesta

English

Magaliesberg Range, Transvaal, South Africa

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cuesta (“slope”). Doublet of coast.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɛstə/
• Rhymes: -ɛstə
• Hyphenation: cues‧ta

Noun

cuesta (plural cuestas)

1. (geomorphology) A hill or ridge with a gentle slope on one side, and a steep slope on the other.
   • 1965, Lawrence Martin, The Physical Geography of Wisconsin, Univ of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 217:

     At that point the cuesta is 10 miles wide but the hilltops have an eastward descent of only about 62 feet. In its general eastward slope the surface of the cuesta is exactly that of one made by weathering and stream erosion, acting upon a gently-dipping limestone bed in a region never glaciated.

   • 1986, Gwen Schultz, Wisconsin's Foundations: A Review of the State's Geology and Its Influence on Geography and Human Activity, Univ of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 127:

     In eastern Wisconsin the cuesta is drift-covered and less noticeable; permanent settlement came later; lead and zinc mining was absent; and industrial development took a different course.

Further reading

• cuesta on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Escaut, acutes, causet, scutae

Asturian

Noun

cuesta f (plural cuestes)

1. slope

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Noun

cuesta f (plural cuestas)

1. (geology) cuesta

Lombard

Alternative forms

• chesta (formal variant)
• questa (Western orthography)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʷesta/
  • (Western) IPA^(key): [ˈkʷɛstɑ], [ˈkʷestɑ]
  • (Novarese) IPA^(key): [ˈkustɑ]

Determiner

cuesta f

1. feminine singular of cuest (“this”)

Pronoun

cuesta f

1. feminine singular of cuest (“this”)

Synonyms

• chella chí, cuella chí

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwesta/ [ˈkwes.t̪a]
• Rhymes: -esta
• Syllabification: cues‧ta

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin costa (“rib; side, wall”), later coming to mean “edge” or “coast” in Medieval Latin. Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kost-. Compare the borrowed doublet costa.

Noun

cuesta f (plural cuestas)

1. (geology) slope (acclivity or declivity)

   Synonym: pendiente

2. (geography) cuesta

Derived terms

• a cuestas
• cuesta abajo
• cuesta arriba
• cuesta de enero

 

Related terms

• a costa de
• acostar
• costado
• costilla

 

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cuesta

1. inflection of costar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “cuesta”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10