Lido Was a Sandbank in Venice
A lido is a public outdoor swimming pool. The name comes from a single Italian beach.
A lido is a public outdoor swimming pool or bathing beach. The word is a place name: the Lido is a long sandbank sheltering the Venetian lagoon, which became a fashionable bathing resort in the nineteenth century. Its fame was such that British towns building open-air pools in the 1930s simply borrowed the name. Italian *lido* comes from Latin *litus*, a shore, so the Venetian island was named for being a beach.
- An outdoor pool. *The town lido.*
- A bathing beach. *A lido.*
- The Venice Lido. *The Lido.*
- Latin — *litus*, a shore. *The root.*
- Borrowed 1930s. *Into British use.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | lido | A lido. |
| Plural | lidos | Lidos. |
| Italian | lido | A shore. |
| Latin | litus | A shore. |
| Related | littoral | Littoral. |
- The lido opens in May.Pool.
- The Venice Lido is a sandbank.Place.
- Litus means shore.Etymology.
Place names that became common words
- Lido — from the Venetian sandbank
- Denim — from *de Nîmes*, of Nîmes
- Jeans — from Genoa
- Bikini — from the atoll where bombs were tested
- Marathon — from the Greek plain
Italian *lido*, a shore, from Latin *litus*, applied to the Venetian bathing resort and then to pools generally.
Where does lido come from?
From the Lido, a sandbank sheltering Venice that became a fashionable bathing resort. British towns borrowed the name in the 1930s.
What does the Italian word mean?
A shore, from Latin litus, which also gives English littoral.