ladyship

/ˈleɪ.di.ʃɪp/

//ˈleɪ.di.ʃɪp// noun

"ladyship" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ladyship” is uncommon English (frequency #50,032 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#50,032
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Term of respect for a woman of the peerage without using her title.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ladyship · ladyship · English

ladyship · rank #50,032 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #50,032
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH Lagrangian

Nearest frequency peer: Lagrangian (+1 rank slots)

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.

Long-tail ranks near “ladyship”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “ladyship” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for ladyship
PropertyValue
Headwordladyship
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈleɪ.di.ʃɪp/
Letters8
Frequency rank#50,032
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “ladyship” in English

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).ladyshipfalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Rare peers in the same band: “Lagrangian” (#50,033), “languish” (#50,034), “larch” (#50,035). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “ladyship” is #50,032. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

ladyship is uncommon English at frequency #50,032 among 2,297 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈleɪ.di.ʃɪp/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

ladyship has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. Our confusable-pair dataset has no match for it, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English ladyship; equivalent to lady + -ship. The correct English form is ladyship, spelled L-A-D-Y-S-H-I-P.

Definition

  1. 1
    Term of respect for a woman of the peerage without using her title.
  2. 2
    Formal form of address for a lady judge (as opposed to the informal "judge").

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how ladyship appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. "Her ladyship will be unable to attend tonight," he said, with a wink because he hadn't said why.
  2. York got down and said very respectfully, "I beg your pardon, my lady, but these horses have not been reined up for three years, and my lord said it would be safer to bring them to it by degrees; but if your ladyship pleases, I can take them up a little more."

Etymology

From Middle English ladyship; equivalent to lady + -ship.

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

How do you spell "ladyship"?
"ladyship" is spelled L-A-D-Y-S-H-I-P. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈleɪ.di.ʃɪp/.
What does "ladyship" mean?
As a noun, "ladyship" means: Term of respect for a woman of the peerage without using her title.
How do you pronounce "ladyship"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ladyship" is /ˈleɪ.di.ʃɪp/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "ladyship"?
From Middle English ladyship; equivalent to lady + -ship. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ladyship", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list