lamia

/ˈleɪmɪə/

//ˈleɪmɪə// noun

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

The verdict

“lamia” is uncommon English (frequency #61,580 among 2,297 “L” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#61,580
frequency rank, English
2,297
“L” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 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.

Corpus desk

Index EN-lamia · lamia · English

lamia · rank #61,580 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #61,580
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,297
  • PHOTO-FINISH Kuiper

Nearest frequency peer: Kuiper (-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 “lamia”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

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

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for lamia
PropertyValue
Headwordlamia
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈleɪmɪə/
Letters5
Frequency rank#61,580
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “lamia” in English

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).lamiafalls 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: “Kuiper” (#61,579), “laryngitis” (#61,581), “Lashkar” (#61,582). Among 2,297 “L” headwords, “lamia” is #61,580. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

lamia is uncommon English at frequency #61,580 among 2,297 “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.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Coordinate term: naga
  2. Apollonius […] by some probable conjectures, found her out to be a serpent, a lamia, and that all her furniture was like Tantalus' gold described by Homer, no substance, but mere illusions.

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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

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

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list