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Ladle

Household Objects
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

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The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

A deep, long-handled spoon used for serving soup or stew. It may suggest nourishment, generosity, and communal meals.

Detailed Definition
A ladle is a large spoon with a bowl-shaped cup and a long handle, used to dip and pour liquid food from a pot. In poetry, it can turn a meal into an act of care, especially when soup is served to children, guests, or the sick. Its circular motion through a simmering pot lends itself to images of abundance and continuity. A battered ladle may also preserve the memory of kitchens where scarcity and generosity existed side by side.
Example
Example in poetry:
A ladle dipping soup can symbolize a caregiver’s daily generosity in a kitchen poem; “The ladle’s moon pours broth into every waiting bowl” uses shape and motion to create an image; A poet might contrast a dented ladle with expensive silverware to honor working-class domestic life; In a memory poem, a grandmother’s ladle can become a vessel for family stories and inherited comfort
Additional Notes
A ladle can make nourishment tangible through its bowl-like shape and repeated motion from pot to plate. In a poem, notice who serves, who receives, and whether the meal feels abundant, scarce, or shared. Related images include hearths, kitchens, soup, and communal tables.
Other Meanings of “Ladle”
Also Known As
Dipper
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