plato - plate or dish

plato - plate or dish
 

I've been wondering about the word 'plato' in Spanish. It means plate, but it is also used for dish. Now how can I express the meaning dish in spanish? A plate and a dish are 2 very different things.

Plate:
http://specialed.umf.maine.edu/Images/scooper_plate.jpg


Dish (or bowl):
http://union.fsu.edu/artcenter/image...bowl_thumb.jpg

What you call a bowl is 'cuenca' or 'plato hondo' in Spanish, at least in Central America. A plate is 'plato', as you said, but 'to wash the dishes' is 'lavar los platos'. So, 'platos' is the catch-all word, equivalent to our word 'dishes'. I never heard any discrepancy in usage among the people of Central America. If they spoke of a 'plate', it was a 'plato'. If they spoke of a bowl, it was 'plato hondo' or 'cuenca'.

This may be different in other countries.

Ok thanks for the input. I've never heard of 'cuenca' before. Is it pretty common?

I agree with Rusty.
But in Spain we call a bowl "tazón" or "cuenco"
saludos :D

'Cuenco' and 'cuenca' are both very common. 'Plato hondo' is used less frequently.

Awesome, THanks Guys!

Plato hondo is actually pretty common in Mexico for dish/bowl. A bigger bowl or mixing bowl would be a tazón.

for us "palto" is a "Plain dish" (for a steak) and "plato hondo" is a more deep dish (for eating soup, or other things). "Tazón", "cuenco", etc are bowls, for the cereals, for example

saludos :D

Es bueno saberlo- Gracias. Un día espero poder visitar a España. :)