escorrentía
/eskorentia/from spelling rules
The English phrase water runoff is escorrentía in Spanish.
The term escorrentía is primarily used in technical, hydrological and environmental contexts to describe the flow of water over the land surface.
Is it said differently in some regions?
In many South American countries, including Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, escurrimiento is the preferred term for water runoff. In Spain, escorrentía de agua is the commonly used term for water runoff in formal settings.
How does it change in a sentence?
The noun escorrentía is feminine and can be used in its plural form escorrentías.
How do you pronounce it?
/eskorentia/
Did you know?
- The word escurrir used in escurrimiento can also mean 'to shake off' or 'to drain', such as when you drain pasta or shake water off your hands.
- Spanish has a specific linguistic distinction between escorrentía, which implies water moving across a surface, and filtración, which is water soaking into the ground.
- In many Latin American countries, using escorrentía in a non-scientific conversation might make you sound like a textbook, as escurrimiento or even 'chorro' are much more common in daily life.
Examples in context
- La escorrentía del agua superficial puede resultar en la erosión del suelo y la contaminación de los cuerpos de agua cercanos.Water runoff can lead to soil erosion and contamination of nearby water bodies.
- En Argentina, es común observar el escurrimiento del agua en las calles durante las lluvias intensas.In Argentina, it is common to see water runoff on the streets during heavy rainfall.
- La escorrentía causa problemas en la carretera.The water runoff causes problems on the road.
- Debemos controlar la escorrentía de la lluvia.We must control the rainwater runoff.
- El exceso de escorrentía daña las plantas.Excessive runoff damages the plants.
Example conversation
Daniel and María are discussing a garden drainage problem.
- DanielMaría, hay demasiada escorrentía después de llover.María, there is too much runoff after it rains.
- MaríaEs verdad, el agua se acumula aquí.It's true, the water accumulates here.
- Daniel¿Podemos instalar un sistema para controlarla?Can we install a system to control it?
- MaríaSí, Daniel, busquemos una solución hoy.Yes, Daniel, let's look for a solution today.
Sources
- Pronunciation: Wiktionary entry escorrentía, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
