# dame

> English word · Noun · IPA /deɪm/ · frequency rank #7,551

## Definitions
1. Usually capitalized as Dame: a title equivalent to Sir for a female knight.
2. A matron at a school, especially Eton College.
3. In traditional pantomime: a melodramatic female often played by a man in drag.
4. A woman.
5. A lady, a woman.
6. The hereditary feudal ruler (seigneur) of Sark, when the title is held by a woman in her own right.
7. A queen.

## Etymology
From Middle English dame, dam (“noble lady”), from Old French dame (“lady; term of address for a woman; the queen in card games and chess”), from Latin domina (“mistress of the house”), feminine form of dominus (“lord, master, ruler; owner of a residence”), or from Latin domus (“home, house”). Doublet of domina and donna.

## Easily confused with
- **de** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-de)
- **DM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dm)
- **day** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-day)
- **due** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-due)
- **die** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-die)
- **dan** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dan)
- **dem** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dem)
- **Dee** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dee)
- **doe** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-doe)
- **dye** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dye)
- **dom** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dom)
- **das** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-das)
- **dim** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dim)
- **dat** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dat)
- **Dre** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dre)
- **dar** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dar)
- **DMV** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dmv)
- **dum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dum)
- **DSM** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-dsm)
- **DAW** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dame-vs-daw)

## Common misspellings (5)
`adme`, `daem`, `damme`, `ddame`, `dmae`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dame