ladle

American  

[layd-l] / ˈleɪd l /

noun

• ladles
  plural

1. a long-handled utensil with a cup-shaped bowl for dipping or conveying liquids.

2. Metallurgy. a bucketlike, refractory-lined container for transferring molten metal.

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verb (used with object)

• ladles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• ladled,
  past participle,  past
• ladling
  present participle

1. to dip or convey with or as if with a ladle.

   to ladle soup into bowls.

ladle British  

/ ˈleɪdəl /

noun

1. a long-handled spoon having a deep bowl for serving or transferring liquids

   a soup ladle

2. a large bucket-shaped container for transferring molten metal

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verb

1. (tr) to lift or serve out with or as if with a ladle

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• ladleful
  noun
• ladler
  noun
• unladled
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• ladles
  plural

Participles

• ladling
  present
• ladled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ladle
  simple
• ladles
  simple
• have ladled
  perfect
• has ladled
  perfect
• am ladling
  progressive
• are ladling
  progressive
• is ladling
  progressive
• have been ladling
  perfect progressive
• has been ladling
  perfect progressive

Past

• ladled
  simple
• had ladled
  perfect
• was ladling
  progressive
• were ladling
  progressive
• had been ladling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ladle
  simple
• will have ladled
  perfect
• will be ladling
  progressive
• will have been ladling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ladle

before 1000; Middle English ladel, Old English hlædel. See lade, -le

Explanation

A ladle is a large spoon with a deep bowl for scooping and serving soup and other liquids. If you make clam chowder, it might be messy to serve it without using a ladle. The serving implement is called a ladle, and you can also use this word as a verb: "Will you ladle some of that tomato soup into my bowl?" The Old English version was hlædel, from hladan, "to load," plus the "tool" suffix -le (like in thimble or handle).

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ladle ladles ladled ladling

The beef noodle soup, which accounts for about 80% of orders, contains noodles, beef, one ladle of original stock and one ladle of fresh broth to dilute the stock’s intense flavor.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026

You cannot bail out the Titanic with a soup ladle.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 25, 2026

When the sauna is hot, I ladle water and splash the stones.

From Salon ● Mar. 8, 2026

Having won the silver ladle himself in 2018, Spruit knows what it takes to make a sensational snert.

From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026

After he took the cooker, he would pretend to have forgotten the garri cup, the last bit of yam, the ladle.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Here in Chicago, every coffee shop worth its salt now ladles out some steaming permutation of oat mush with a swirl of tahini or jam, SQIRL-style.

From Salon ● Nov. 13, 2025

Lava-like liquid oozes from the base of the furnace as soot-coated men in hooded reflective suits, thick gloves and protective visors steer the candescent flow with ladles the length of spears.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2023

The cover of Vishwesh Bhatt’s new cookbook is a still-life photograph: Jars of black-eyed peas stand near silver ladles tinged with patina, and next to them, collard leaves fan out and over.

From Washington Post ● Dec. 8, 2022

It has long tables, with red-and-white-checkered tablecloths, and its own lumberjack museum, with giant saws — and soup ladles befitting Paul Bunyan himself — hanging from the walls.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2022

Dinner plates, dessert dishes, creamers, skewers, candlesticks, butter dishes, forks, spoons, teapots, trays, platters, ladles, tureens—the long table was covered end-to-end with treasure.

From "The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling" by Maryrose Wood

Many remain convinced a tsunami could yet strike, he said, as government aid workers ladled rice porridge into bowls for the evacuees.

From Barron's ● Jun. 19, 2026

President ladled his usual flattery on Mr. Xi as a “great” and “powerful” leader, and said the two are now fast friends.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 15, 2026

I like anything effervescent and not too sweet, ideally ladled from a punch bowl because punch bowls inherently make adults feel like children in the best possible way.

From Salon ● Nov. 25, 2025

Then they ladled the liquid into small cups.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 5, 2025

Hermione ladled large dollops of the potion into each of the glasses.

From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling

A few metres away, his mother Beatrice was busy ladling out and flipping crepes spread from brim to brim with a generous layer of chocolate-hazelnut spread.

From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026

The women, ladling out stew and potatoes with frozen hands, scoffed at the idea that the police could stop the crossings.

From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2023

Then, and only then, does Smith fry the patty, obsessively ladling rendered beef fat over the meat until the surface caramelizes to wring out that Maillard reaction.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 27, 2023

“They would say, ‘Ay, no, you live in Vietnam!’” recalls Ms. Inglés, ladling mango juice into a bag for a young boy at the juice stand she runs outside her home.

From New York Times ● Apr. 9, 2023

“The most delicious vision these eyes ever beheld,” Valentine liked to tell the new arrivals, drawing out delicious as if ladling hot caramel.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead