ladies
nounMore than one woman or adult female human.
nounMore than one woman of good manners and higher social class.
nounA polite way to speak to or address more than one woman.
nounWomen who are married to lords or men of noble rank.
nounBathrooms or toilets made for women to use.
Syllables
2 syllables
Letters
Phonics breakdown
Phonics Rule: Letter L
The letter L makes the /l/ sound, like in 'lamp', 'leg', and 'lip'. The tongue tip touches behind the upper teeth.
L is a voiced lateral approximant — the tongue tip touches the ridge behind the upper teeth while air flows around the sides. Double L (ll) makes the same /l/ sound.
Tip
L is for lamp — light it up with /l/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Open Syllable A (Long A)
When A is the last letter of a syllable, the syllable is open and the A says its name /eɪ/ — like in 'ba-by' and 'pa-per'.
This is the open-syllable pattern: a syllable that ends in a vowel leaves that vowel 'open', so it says its long name. Here, a lone A at the end of a syllable says /eɪ/ (ba-by, a-pron, lady). The long A sound is also spelled other ways, each its own rule — silent E (cake), or vowel teams (ai in rain, ay in play) — but those are not open syllables.
Tip
Long A says its name — A!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Letter D
The letter D makes the /d/ sound, like in 'dog', 'day', and 'dig'. The tongue tip touches behind the upper teeth.
D is a voiced alveolar stop. The tongue tip touches the ridge just behind the upper front teeth, then releases with voice. It reliably makes the /d/ sound in almost all positions.
Tip
D is for dog — and dog starts with /d/!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Open Syllable E (Long E)
When E is the last letter of a syllable, the syllable is open and the E says its name /iː/ — like in 'he' and 'me'.
This is the open-syllable pattern: a syllable that ends in a vowel leaves it 'open', so it says its long name. Here, a lone E at the end of a syllable says /iː/ (he, me, we, be). The long E sound is also spelled other ways, each its own rule — vowel teams (ee in tree, ea in read) — but those are not open syllables.
Tip
Long E says its name — E!
Examples
Phonics Rule: Suffix -ES
The suffix -ES is added to words ending in S, X, Z, CH, or SH to make them plural or third-person singular.
When a word ends in a hissing or buzzing sound (s, x, z, ch, sh), adding just -S would be hard to say. So -ES is added instead and pronounced /ɪz/ — it adds a syllable. For example: box → boxes, wish → wishes, buzz → buzzes.
Tip
-ES adds a whole extra syllable — box-es, wish-es!
Examples
What is SnapPhonics?
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