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laud

UK /lɔːd/noun, verb

laud is a noun meaning “Glorification or praise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled L-A-U-D and has one syllable, and it appears about once in every 3 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of laud is lauds.

What does laud mean?

noun

  1. 1

    Glorification or praise.

  2. 2

    Hymn of praise.

  3. 3

    A prayer service following matins.

verb

  1. 1

    To praise; to glorify.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you pronounce laud?

  • UK /lɔːd/
  • British /loːd/
  • /lɔd/

Laud has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-au-laud.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of laud

  • lauds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • lauding participle, present
  • lauded participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How common is laud?

Laud appears about once in every 3 million words in written English, the 47,073rd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

Words people confuse with laud

Sounds like: lord (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

Laud in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Portugueselouva (praise or glorification), louvor (hymn of praise), louvar (to praise, to glorify)
Spanishlaude, lauro, loor (praise or glorification), loar, laudar (to praise, to glorify)
Frenchglorifier, célébrer, exalter (to praise, to glorify)
Germanpreisen (to praise, to glorify)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does laud come from?

Inherited from Middle English lauden, from Old French lauder, from Latin laudō, laudāre, from laus (“praise, glory, fame, renown”), from echoic Proto-Indo-European root *leh₁wdʰ- (“song, sound”). Cognate with Old English lēoþ (“song, poem”), German Lied (“song”). Doublet of leed.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).