means An open public square or paved space in a town or city, often surrounded by buildings and used for gathering; also a name for shopping centers and other open commercial areas.

from From Spanish plaza, "public square," which traces back through Vulgar Latin plattea to Latin platea, "broad street or open space" — itself borrowed from Greek plateia (hodos), "broad (way)," from platys, "flat, broad." That same broad-and-flat root runs through a whole family of relatives: Italian piazza, French place, and the English place all descend from the same Latin platea, making a plaza, a piazza, and a parking place distant cousins under the skin.