From Italian 'laguna,' from Latin 'lacuna' (pool, gap) — same root as 'lake' and 'lacuna.'
A shallow body of water separated from a larger body by sandbars or coral reefs.
From Italian laguna (a pool, a lake, a shallow stretch of water separated from the sea), from Latin lacūna (a pit, a hole, a pool, a gap), from lacus (a lake, a hollow, a basin). Lacus derives from PIE *loku- (pool, lake, body of standing water), the same root underlying Old English lagu (water, sea, flood), Welsh llwch (lake, inlet), Old Irish loch (lake, giving the Scottish and Irish loch), and Lithuanian lãkštas (a flat surface of water). The word entered English in the 17th century specifically to describe the shallow water bodies behind Venice's barrier