A viscount is a British nobleman ranking below an earl and above a baron. The full order, from the top down, is duke, marquess, earl, viscount, baron — so a viscount sits fourth of five. He is addressed as Lord plus his title: Viscount Astor is spoken of as Lord Astor.

The first thing to fix is the sound. Viscount is pronounced "VY-count" — the s is completely silent, and the first part rhymes with "my". This trips up almost every learner, and it trips up plenty of native speakers too, because the spelling gives no warning at all.

The title also has a second life outside the peerage: the eldest son of an earl or a marquess often uses one of his father's lesser titles as a courtesy title, and that is frequently a viscountcy. So a man called Viscount So-and-so in a newspaper may be an heir, not a peer in his own right.

For most learners the word arrives through history books, period drama, and news about the House of Lords. It is not a word you need in daily life, but it is one you need to recognise and, above all, to pronounce.