lapidary
/ˈlæpɪdəɹi/
"lapidary" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lapidary” is an uncommon English word, ranked #90,646 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #90,646
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | lapidary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #90,646 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lapidary” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lapidary is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #90,646 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No generated misspelling entries exist for lapidary in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French… The correct English form is lapidary, spelled L-A-P-I-D-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A person who cuts and polishes, engraves, or deals in gems and precious stones.
- 2The field in which such a person works, a subfield of gemology.
- 3An expert in gems and precious stones; a connoisseur of lapidary work.
- 4Gems and precious stones collectively; jewellery.
- 5A treatise on (precious) stones.
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English lapidari, lapidarie (“person who cuts, polishes, or engraves precious stones; expert in precious stones; treatise on precious stones”) [and other forms], from Old French lapidaire (“gemsmith, lapidary”) (modern French lapidaire), or from its etymon Latin lapidārius (“(adjective) of stones, stony; (noun) stonecutter”), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis (“stone; (poetic) jewel, precious stone”), possibly from Pre-Greek or Proto-Indo-European *lep- (“to peel”)) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives). Noun sense 3.2 (“jewellery”) and noun sense 3.3 (“treatise on precious stones”) are derived from Latin lapidāria or lapidārium, a noun use of the neuter plural or genitive plural respectively of lapidāris (“of stone”, adjective), from lapidis (the genitive singular of lapis; see above) + -āris (suffix forming adjectives). The stone-referent adjective is either: * a learned borrowing from Latin lapidārius (adjective); or * derived from the noun. The "succinct" sense (adjective sense 4) is by metaphor: the speaker or writer has cut and polished their locution, as it were.
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 “lapidary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-A-P-I-D-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlæpɪdəɹi/ (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.