Word.ws English Dictionary

lydia

/ˈlɪ.di.ə/

lydia is the plural of lydion.

Meaning of lydion

Noun

lydion (plural lydions or lydia)

  1. (historical) A kind of Ancient Greek vase of Lydian origin: a small spherical perfume container without handles.

Proper noun capitalized: Lydia

Lydia

  1. (historical) A historical region and ancient kingdom in western Asia Minor, in modern-day Turkey.
  2. A woman converted by St. Paul; presumably named for ancestry or residence in Lydia.
    • And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 16:14
  3. A female given name from Ancient Greek.
    • Lydia was a stout, well-grown girl of fifteen, with a fine complexion and good-humoured countenance; a favourite with her mother, whose affection had brought her into public at an early age.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], “Chapter 9”, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC
    • The first three, Macklin, Lydia, and Randall, were the special ones. Even those names, we thought, showed greater imagination, greater involvement on our parents' part, than ours did: Nina, Mary, Sarah.1990, Sue Miller, Family Pictures, Harper & Row, →ISBN, page 5

Forms of lydia

alternative formLidia

Origin of lydia

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Λυδία (Ludía, “the region of Lydia”), from λυδία (ludía, “beautiful one, noble one”), a feminine form of Λυδός (Ludós) (Lydus, from λυδός (ludós) (lydus)). The region of Lydia is said to be named for a king Λυδός (Ludós) (Lydus, from λυδός (ludós) (lydus)); the given name Lydia originally indicated ancestry or residence in the region of Lydia.

Words formed from lydia

Words that rhyme with lydia

Questions about lydia

What does lydia mean?
Lydia means a historical region and ancient kingdom in western Asia Minor, in modern-day Turkey.
What is lydia the plural of?
Lydia is the plural of lydion.
What part of speech is lydia?
Lydia is a proper noun.
How do you pronounce lydia?
Lydia is pronounced /ˈlɪ.di.ə/.

Words near lydia in the dictionary

  1. Lydford-on-Fosse
  2. Lydgate
  3. Lydgatian
  4. Lydham
  5. Lydham Heath
  6. lydia
  7. Lydian
  8. Lydian mode
  9. Lydian stone
  10. Lydian stones
  11. lydianite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lydia (page history and authors); Lydia (page history and authors); lydion (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Lydia.wav.

Cite this entry: “lydia.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lydia. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.