flammable
/ˈflæməbl̩/adjective, noun
flammable is spelled F-L-A-M-M-A-B-L-E: 9 letters and 3 syllables. It appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “flammable vs inflammable” about 5,400 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, flammable means “Capable of burning” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in flammable?
| Letters | 9: F-L-A-M-M-A-B-L-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 1.5 times per million words; the 23,253rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How common is flammable?
Flammable appears 1.5 times per million words in written English, the 23,253rd 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 flammable?
- /ˈflæməbl̩/
Flammable has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-flammable.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with flammable
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of flammable
- more flammable comparative
- most flammable superlative
- flammables plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flammable mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Capable of burning.
Near-synonym: ignitable
- 2
Easily set on fire.
Near-synonym: ignitable
- 3
Subject to easy ignition and rapid flaming combustion.
- 4
Very likely to cause fighting or controversy; extremely contentious.
noun
- 1
Any flammable substance.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Flammable in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | inflammable, enflammable |
| German | brennbar, entzündbar, entflammbar , feuergefährlich, leichtentzündlich |
| Portuguese | inflamável |
| Spanish | inflamable |
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 flammable come from?
Back-formation from inflammable, which is used to avoid confusion with non-flammable, as the prefix in- is often used to mean "un-; non-", although it was originally meant in a sense closely related to en-.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).