Lady

[1] Once used to describe only women of a high social class or status, the female counterpart of lord, now it may refer to any adult woman, as gentleman can be used for men.

"Lady" is used before the family name or peerage of a woman with a title of nobility or honorary title suo jure (in her own right), such as female members of the Order of the Garter and Order of the Thistle, or the wife of a lord, a baronet, Scottish feudal baron, laird, or a knight, and also before the first name of the daughter of a duke, marquess, or earl.

The second part is usually taken to be from the root dig-, "to knead", seen also in dough; the sense development from bread-kneader, or bread-maker, or bread-shaper, to the ordinary meaning, though not clearly to be traced historically, may be illustrated by that of "lord".

[2][3] The primary meaning of "mistress of a household" is now mostly obsolete,[3] save for the term "landlady" and in set phrases such as "the lady of the house".

In some contexts "lady" is synonymous with the old-fashioned word "gentlewoman", meaning someone of high social status by birth and upbringing, but not necessarily titled.

[citation needed] Some names for jobs are gender-neutral, e.g. mail carrier (postal worker), but where there is a common word with a -man suffix, sometimes -lady may be used as an equivalent, e.g. postman and (sometimes) postlady.

After the incident, White assured his readers, his papers referred to human females as "women", with the exception of police court characters, who were all "ladies".

It is suggested by academic Elizabeth Reid Boyd that feminist usage of the word "lady" has been reclaimed in the 21st century.

[6] Formally, "Lady" is the female counterpart to higher ranks in society, from gentlemen, through knights, to peers of the realm.

During the Middle Ages, princesses or daughters of the blood royal were usually known by their first names with "Lady" prefixed, e.g.

[citation needed] The special use of the word as a title of the Virgin Mary, usually Our Lady, represents the Latin Domina Nostra.

Margaret Thatcher was informally referred to in the same way by many of her political colleagues when Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.