ladybird
/ˈleɪ.di.bəːd/
"ladybird" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ladybird” is an uncommon English word, ranked #50,635 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #50,635
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any of the Coccinellidae family of beetles, typically having a round shape and red or yellow spotted elytra.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ladybird |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈleɪ.di.bəːd/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #50,635 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ladybird” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ladybird is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈleɪ.di.bəːd/. Corpus data places it at rank #50,635 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Any of the Coccinellidae family of beetles, typically having a round shape and red or yellow spotted elytra.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for ladybird, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: From lady + bird, the “lady” here referring to the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. Compare German Marienkäfer (literally “Mary beetle/bug”), Danish mariehøne, Latvian mārīte, Macedonian бубамара (bubamara) and Spanish mariquita. Also compare damselfly. The correct English form is ladybird, spelled L-A-D-Y-B-I-R-D.
Definition
- 1Any of the Coccinellidae family of beetles, typically having a round shape and red or yellow spotted elytra.
Etymology
From lady + bird, the “lady” here referring to the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. Compare German Marienkäfer (literally “Mary beetle/bug”), Danish mariehøne, Latvian mārīte, Macedonian бубамара (bubamara) and Spanish mariquita. Also compare damselfly.
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); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “ladybird”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-A-D-Y-B-I-R-D - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈleɪ.di.bəːd/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.