fireworks

fire·works/ˈfaɪ̯.ɚ.wɝks/noun

fireworks is spelled F-I-R-E-W-O-R-K-S: 9 letters and 2 syllables (fire·works). It appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fireworks means “An event or a display where fireworks are set off” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in fireworks?

Letters	9: F-I-R-E-W-O-R-K-S
Syllables	2: fire·works
In writing	6.8 times per million words; the 9,165th 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 fireworks?

Fireworks appears 6.8 times per million words in written English, the 9,165th most frequent word form in the list.

fireworks0.0010.010.11101001,00010,000

rarerper million words of written Englishmore common

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce fireworks?

UK /ˈfaɪ̯.ə.wɜːks/
US /ˈfaɪ̯.ɚ.wɝks/

Fireworks has 2 syllables, split fire·works in writing.

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

What does fireworks mean?

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

noun

1
An event or a display where fireworks are set off.
2
A boisterous or violent event or situation.
I left the room after John came home drunk but before the fireworks went off.
3
plural of firework. (a form of firework)

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

Fireworks in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

Language	Words
French	feux d'artifice (plural of firework)
German	Feuerwerk (plural of firework)
Portuguese	fogos de artifício (plural of firework), fogo de artifício (event or display of fireworks)
Spanish	fuegos artificiales (plural of firework)

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 fireworks come from?

From fire + work(s). The similarity with Dutch vuurwerk and German Feuerwerk, both “fireworks”, is hardly coincidental. Since the word was apparently first attested in English circa 1575, probably from the Dutch (1540), from the German (sense early 16th c.), from Middle High German viurwerc (14th c. as “fuel, firewood”). A spread from the south northwards is also in line with the fact that the first European fireworks were produced in Italy in the late 14th century.