lamia

/ˈleɪmɪə/

//ˈleɪmɪə// noun

"lamia" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“lamia” is uncommon English (frequency #61,580 among 16,425 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,580
frequency rank, English
16,425
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent.

Key facts for lamia
PropertyValue
Headwordlamia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈleɪmɪə/
Letters5
Frequency rank#61,580
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “lamia” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). lamia lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

lamia is uncommon English at frequency #61,580 among 16,425 “L” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /ˈleɪmɪə/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent.".

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for lamia, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia). The correct English form is lamia, spelled L-A-M-I-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent.

Etymology

From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia).

Synonyms

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 "lamia"?
"lamia" is spelled L-A-M-I-A. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈleɪmɪə/.
What does "lamia" mean?
As a noun, "lamia" means: A monster preying upon human beings, who sucked the blood of children, often described as having the head and breasts of a woman and the lower half of a serpent.
How do you pronounce "lamia"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "lamia" is /ˈleɪmɪə/. 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 "lamia"?
From Latin lamia, from Ancient Greek Λάμια (Lámia). 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.

Using “lamia”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is L-A-M-I-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ˈleɪmɪə/ (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

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list