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escala

scale

noun es-KAH-lah Less Common
Travel & Places Geography

Also means

stopover, layover

Usage Note

Escala is polysemous: a musical scale (escala mayor), a measuring scale or ratio (a escala 1:100), and a transit stop in travel (hacer escala en Madrid). In cartography, a gran escala means large-scale (detailed), the opposite of English intuition for many learners. The verb escalar ('to climb, to scale') and escalera ('staircase, ladder') share the root.

Examples

"El vuelo hace escala en Lisboa."

Natural Translation

The flight has a stopover in Lisbon.

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