Ladie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic spelling of a woman of noble birth or high social standing ; the female head or wife of a household in older usage
2. An old form of the term for a woman of gentle rank ; a woman who presides over a house or family as its wife or mistress
3. A variant of an old word for a noblewoman of high station ; an older term for the wife or female master of a household

Etymology: The word "ladie" is simply an obsolete spelling of "lady", and its history is the history of "lady" itself. The surprise lies in its original meaning: the Old English "hlǣfdīġe" was built from "hlāf", meaning "bread, loaf", and "dǣġe", meaning "kneader" or "maker of dough", so the earliest sense was essentially "bread-kneader". The "dǣġe" element survives in Old English as the word for a female servant, and it is related to the modern English "dey", a dairymaid. Over the centuries the word narrowed from a working woman who baked bread in a household to the mistress of a house and the wife of a lord. Its Middle English forms, including "lafdi", "lavedi", and "laddy", show how the spelling wandered before settling. Despite the similar look, it is unrelated to "lad", which has a separate origin.