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bonfire

bon·fireUK /ˈbɒnfaɪə/noun, verb

bonfire is spelled B-O-N-F-I-R-E: 7 letters and 2 syllables (bon·fire). It appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, bonfire means “A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of bonfire is bonfires.

How many letters and syllables are in bonfire?

Letters7: B-O-N-F-I-R-E
Syllables2: bon·fire
In writing2.1 times per million words; the 18,811th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

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).

How common is bonfire?

Bonfire appears 2.1 times per million words in written English, the 18,811th 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 bonfire?

  • /ˈbɒnfaɪəɹ/
  • [ˈbɒɱˌfaɪ̯ɚ]
  • UK /ˈbɒnfaɪə/

Bonfire has 2 syllables, split bon·fire in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-bonfire.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of bonfire

  • bonfires plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • bonfiring participle, present
  • bonfired participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does bonfire mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate something or as a signal.

  2. 2

    A fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items; originally (historical), heretics or other offenders, or banned books; now, generally agricultural or garden waste, or rubbish.

  3. 3

    Something like a bonfire (sense 1 or 2) in heat, destructiveness, ferocity, etc.

  4. 4

    obsoleteA fire lit to cremate a dead body; a funeral pyre.

verb

  1. 1

    To destroy (something) by, or as if by, burning on a bonfire; (more generally) to burn or set alight.

  2. 2

    To fire (pottery) using a bonfire.

  3. 3

    obsoleteTo start a bonfire in (a place); to light up (a place) with a bonfire.

  4. 4

    rareTo make, or celebrate around, a bonfire.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Bonfire in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfeu de joie (large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate…), bûcher (fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items)
GermanFreudenfeuer (large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate…), Scheiterhaufen (fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items)
Portuguesefogueira (large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate…)
Spanishfogata, fogón (large, controlled outdoor fire lit to celebrate…), hoguera (fire lit outdoors to burn unwanted items)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does bonfire come from?

From Middle English bonnefyre (“a fire in which bones are burnt, bonfire”) [and other forms], by surface analysis, bone + fire. Replaced earlier Middle English bale-fyre, from Old English bǣlfȳr (see balefire). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) notes that bonfires, originally lit as part of midsummer celebrations, were not generally associated with the burning of bones.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

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