bushfire

noun

"bushfire" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bushfire” is uncommon English (frequency #54,063 among 4,121 “B” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#54,063
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - An uncontrolled fire in a wooded or grassy area; a wildfire.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bushfire · bushfire · English

bushfire · rank #54,063 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #54,063
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH Bruxelles

Nearest frequency peer: Bruxelles (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Long-tail ranks near “bushfire”

Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter

corpus weight

What this shows Long-tail view: where “bushfire” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for bushfire
PropertyValue
Headwordbushfire
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters8
Frequency rank#54,063
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Long-tail rank of “bushfire” in English

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).bushfirefalls in this rarity band:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Rare peers in the same band: “Bruxelles” (#54,062), “bushman” (#54,064), “buttock” (#54,065). Among 4,121 “B” headwords, “bushfire” is #54,063. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

bushfire is uncommon English at frequency #54,063 among 4,121 “B” headwords, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "An uncontrolled fire in a wooded or grassy area; a wildfire.".

bushfire doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.

Etymologically, the entry records: From bush + fire. The correct English form is bushfire, spelled B-U-S-H-F-I-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    An uncontrolled fire in a wooded or grassy area; a wildfire.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bushfire appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. 1985, Australian House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates, House of Representatives, Weekly Hansard, Issues 4-6, page 1322, Many homes, a great deal of property and a number of lives were lost as a result of the bushfires in this country.
  2. It should also be kept in mind that often bushfires start and move quickly and the information relating to their location and activity may take some time to assemble and make available.

Etymology

From bush + fire.

Synonyms

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bushfire"?
"bushfire" is spelled B-U-S-H-F-I-R-E.
What does "bushfire" mean?
As a noun, "bushfire" means: An uncontrolled fire in a wooded or grassy area; a wildfire.
What is the origin of the word "bushfire"?
From bush + fire. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bushfire", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list