fireman
fire·man/ˈfaɪɹmən/noun
fireman is spelled F-I-R-E-M-A-N: 7 letters and 2 syllables (fire·man). It appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fireman means “Someone (especially male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fireman is firemen.
How many letters and syllables are in fireman?
| Letters | 7: F-I-R-E-M-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: fire·man |
| In writing | 1.6 times per million words; the 22,362nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none 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 fireman?
Fireman appears 1.6 times per million words in written English, the 22,362nd 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 fireman?
- US /ˈfaɪɹmən/
- US /-ˌmæn/
- UK /ˈfaɪəmən/
Fireman has 2 syllables, split fire·man in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-fireman.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of fireman
- firemen plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does fireman mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
Someone (especially male) who is skilled in the work of fighting fire.
For firemen everywhere rescuing cats from trees has been as much a part of the job as tackling blazing buildings.
- 2
A person (originally a man) who keeps the fire going underneath a steam boiler (originally, shoveling coal by hand), particularly on a railroad locomotive or steamship.
He looked around his cab at his black greasy fireman, saying 'shovel on a little more coal, and when we cross that White Oak Mountain, you can watch Old 97 roll'.
- 3
An assistant on any locomotive, whether steam-powered or not.
- 4
A relief pitcher (reflecting the figurative analogy of rescuing the situation).
- 5
A safety inspector in coal mines.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Fireman in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | Feuerwehrmann , Heizer |
| Portuguese | bombeiro, homem do fogo |
| Spanish | bombero , fogonero |
| French | chauffeur |
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 fireman come from?
From fire + -man.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).