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PlainSpell

dairy

UK /ˈdɛə.ɹi/noun, adjective

dairy is spelled D-A-I-R-Y: 5 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, dairy means “(also dairy products or dairy produce) Products produced from milk” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of dairy is dairies.

How many letters and syllables are in dairy?

Letters5: D-A-I-R-Y
Syllables2 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing12 times per million words; the 6,138th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is dairy?

Dairy appears 12 times per million words in written English, the 6,138th 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).

How do you pronounce dairy?

  • UK /ˈdɛə.ɹi/
  • /ˈdɛɚ.i/
  • /ˈdɛɹ.i/

Dairy has 2 syllables (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: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Simplificationalizer-dairy.wav, En-us-dairy.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with dairy?

4 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as dairy from its last stressed vowel (/ɛəɹi/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: diary.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of dairy

  • dairies plural

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

What does dairy mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    (also dairy products or dairy produce) Products produced from milk.

  2. 2

    A place, often on a farm, where milk is processed and turned into products such as butter and cheese.

    Go and fetch the butter from the dairy.

  3. 3

    A dairy farm.

  4. 4

    A shop selling dairy products.

    Can you go and buy some yoghurt and blue cheese from the dairy?

  5. 5

    A corner store, superette or minimart.

  6. 6

    slangvulgarA woman's breast.

adjective

  1. 1

    Referring to products produced from milk.

  2. 2

    Referring to products produced from animal milk as opposed to non-milk substitutes.

    Is this milk dairy or soy?

  3. 3

    Referring to the milk production and processing industries.

  4. 4

    UKOn food labelling, containing fats only from dairy sources (e.g. dairy ice cream).

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

Dairy in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchlaiterie (place, where milk is processed), crèmerie (shop selling dairy products), alimentation générale, dépanneur (corner-store, superette, mini-mart), laitages (products produced from milk), laitier (referring to products produced from milk)
GermanMolkerei (place, where milk is processed), Milchladen (shop selling dairy products), Laden um die Ecke (corner-store, superette, mini-mart), Molkereiprodukte, Milchprodukte (products produced from milk), Milchküche (slang, vulgar: woman's breast)
Portugueseleitaria (place, where milk is processed), mercearia (corner-store, superette, mini-mart), laticínios (products produced from milk), leiteiro, lácteo, laticínio (referring to products produced from milk)
Spanishgranja, granja lechera, establo (place, where milk is processed), lechería, mantequería (shop selling dairy products), tiendita (corner-store, superette, mini-mart)

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 dairy come from?

Inherited from Middle English deyerie (“dairy, dairy farm”), from Anglo-Norman deyerie (“dairy”), from deye (“dairymaid”) + -erie (“-ery”); by surface analysis, dey (“dairymaid”) + -ry. Cognate with Scots dery, dyrie.

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

What to look up after dairy