Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

gladius

/ˈɡlæd.i.əs/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: 1.97 in modern English

Syllables: gla-d-ius
IPA: /ˈɡlæd.i.əs/

9

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

3

Syllables

7

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A Roman sword roughly two feet long.

noun

A pen, a hard internal bodypart of certain cephalopods, made of chitin-like material.

Example Sentences

"Finally, the Romans made the gladius—sharp, of highly-tempered steel, and strongly piercing—the first real sword (Figs. 17, 18, 19), of which only five specimens are now known to exist."
"The gladius was effective either for cutting or for thrusting and was used by legionaries and auxiliaries."
"From the Cretaceous of North America fossilised gladii in the enigmatic genus Tusoteuthis have been estimated to give a mantle length (body size) of 1.8m, just less than that of the giant squid’s."

Etymology

From Latin gladius (“Roman short sword, gladius”). Doublet of glaive.

Origin

Source language: Latin

Word Breakdown

Root: gladius

Inflected Forms

gladiuses (plural) gladii (plural)

Questions

How do you pronounce gladius?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈɡlæd.i.əs/.
What does gladius mean?: A Roman sword roughly two feet long.
Where does gladius come from?: It is traced to Latin.

How to pronounce gladius

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “gladius”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈɡlæd.i.əs/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “gladius”.
Repeat and practice — Say “gladius” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.