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PlainSpell

fume

UK /fjuːm/noun, verb

fume is spelled F-U-M-E: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,363rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, fume means “A gas or vapour/vapor that is strong-smelling or dangerous to inhale” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of fume is fumes.

How many letters and syllables are in fume?

Letters4: F-U-M-E
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 45,363rd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Rhymes with

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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is fume?

Fume appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 45,363rd 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 fume?

  • UK /fjuːm/

Fume has one syllable (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: En-us-fume.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

What rhymes with fume?

3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fume from its last stressed vowel (/um/, British pronunciation):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of fume

  • fumes plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • fuming participle, present
  • fumed participle, past

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

What does fume mean?

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

noun

  1. 1

    A gas or vapour/vapor that is strong-smelling or dangerous to inhale.

    Don't stand around in there breathing the fumes while the adhesive cures.

  2. 2

    A material that has been vaporized from the solid or liquid state to the gas state and re-coalesced to the solid state.

    Lead fume is a greyish powder, mainly comprising lead sulfate.

  3. 3

    Rage or excitement which deprives the mind of self-control.

  4. 4

    Anything unsubstantial or airy; idle conceit; vain imagination.

  5. 5

    The incense of praise; inordinate flattery.

  6. 6

    obsoleteA passionate person.

verb

  1. 1

    To expose (something) to fumes; specifically, to expose wood, etc., to ammonia in order to produce dark tints.

  2. 2

    To apply or offer incense to.

  3. 3

    To emit fumes.

  4. 4

    To pass off in fumes or vapours.

  5. 5

    To express or feel great anger.

    He’s still fuming about the argument they had yesterday.

  6. 6

    To be as in a mist; to be dulled and stupefied.

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

How do you abbreviate fume?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of fume: DFM.

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

Fume in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
GermanRauch, Qualm (gas or vapor that is strong-smelling or…), rauchen, qualmen (to emit fumes), schäumen (to express or feel great anger)
Portuguesevapor (gas or vapor that is strong-smelling or…), fumegar (to emit fumes)
Spanishhumo, jumo, gas (gas or vapor that is strong-smelling or…), humear (to emit fumes), echar humo, trinar (to express or feel great anger)
Frenchfulminer (to express or feel great anger)

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 fume come from?

From Middle English fume, from Old French fum (“smoke, steam, vapour”), from Latin fūmus (“vapour, smoke”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂mós (“smoke”), from *dʰewh₂- (“to smoke, raise dust”). Doublet of thymus and thymos. More at dun, dusk, dust.

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

What to look up after fume