alarum
/əˈlɑ.ɹəm/noun
alarum is spelled A-L-A-R-U-M: 6 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 50 million words in written English, the 220,118th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, alarum means “A danger signal or warning” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of alarum is alarums.
How many letters and syllables are in alarum?
| Letters | 6: A-L-A-R-U-M |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 50 million words; the 220,118th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is alarum?
Alarum appears about once in every 50 million words in written English, the 220,118th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce alarum?
- US /əˈlɑ.ɹəm/
Alarum has 3 syllables (counted from the pronunciation).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Neøn-alarum.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with alarum?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as alarum (/ɑɹəm/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: marula.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of alarum
- alarums plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- allarum
- alaruming participle, present
- alarumed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does alarum mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A danger signal or warning.
- 2
A call to arms.
- 3
archaicAn alarm clock.
verb
- 1
archaicTo sound alarums, to sound an alarm.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does alarum come from?
From Middle English alarom, from Old Italian all'arme (“to arms, to the weapons”), from Latin arma, armorum (“weapons”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).