parasol

UK/ˈpæɹəˌsɒl/US/ˈpɛɹəˌsɑl/

nounB2+Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,550 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: parasols

A parasol is the large shade that keeps the sun off. Put up the parasol, sit under the parasol, a beach parasol.

It is built for sun rather than rain, so it is lighter than an umbrella and often not waterproof at all. The name says exactly that: para for warding off and sol for the sun, which is the same para as in parachute.

Definitions of parasol

1nounparasolA large shade that keeps the sun off.B2+
“We sat under a parasol at the café to stay out of the midday sun.”

parasol is a shade.

Where it comes from

Italian parasole means ward off the sun — parare, to shield, plus sole, the sun.

Proto-Indo-European
*preh₂-
Italian
parasole
French
parasol
English, today
parasol

From French parasol, from Italian parasole, from para + sole.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Hotel & Staying Away

Practise this word

parasol in the wild

An umbrella (parasol or rarely parapluie) is a folding canopy supported by wooden or metal ribs that is mounted on a wooden, metal, or plastic pole.
Umbrella
Some countries specifically use the words parasol and parapluie to differentiate based on their use.
Umbrella
The Morane-Saulnier L, or Morane-Saulnier Type L, or, officially, MoS-3, was a French parasol wing one- or two-seat scout aeroplane of the First World War.
Morane-Saulnier L
The Heath Parasol is an American single or two seat, open-cockpit, parasol winged, homebuilt monoplane.
Heath Parasol
The Henschel Hs 122 was a German army cooperation/reconnaissance aircraft of the mid-1930s, radial-engined and with a parasol wing.
Henschel Hs 122

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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