Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

old bailey

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.05 in modern English

Syllables
old bai-ley
IPA
15
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A street in the City between Holborn Circus and St Paul's Cathedral.

name

The Central Criminal Court in this street; the Crown Court in the City of London.

name

The English legal system.

Etymology

Inflected Forms

the Old Bailey (canonical)

Questions

What does old bailey mean?
A street in the City between Holborn Circus and St Paul's Cathedral.
Where does old bailey come from?
Originally "The Bailey", a street running outside the western wall of medieval London; from the word bailey, a Middle English term for the outermost wall or court of a fortification. The courthouse built nearby in the 16th century, alongside old Newgate Prison, took its name from the street.

How to pronounce old bailey

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  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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  4. Repeat and practice — Say “old bailey” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.