ladies and gentlemen
"ladies-and-gentlemen" is a 18-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ladies and gentlemen” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 20
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used as a vocative to address an audience.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ladies-and-gentlemen · ladies and gentlemen · English
ladies and gentlemen · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-MEGA 20 letters
- VOW-7 7 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "L" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ladies and gentlemen |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 20 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “ladies and gentlemen” in English
Rare enough to double-check
ladies and gentlemen is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
ladies and gentlemen doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.
Etymologically, the entry records: Around 1750, the form gentlemen and ladies was more common, but from 1770 the ladies-first word order predominates. The correct English form is ladies and gentlemen, spelled L-A-D-I-E-S- -A-N-D- -G-E-N-T-L-E-M-E-N.
Definition
- 1Used as a vocative to address an audience.
- 2Public toilets: a ladies' room and a gentlemen's room.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ladies and gentlemen appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
[…] a Master of Ceremonies' words "Ladies and gentlemen" […] interpellates those being addressed as an audience, and one that is differentiated by gender.
There are quays there and lamps and some squares of grass; a ladies and gentlemen, and a cinema.
Etymology
Around 1750, the form gentlemen and ladies was more common, but from 1770 the ladies-first word order predominates.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.