gondolier
/ˌɡɑndəˈlɪɹ/noun
gondolier is a noun meaning “A boatperson who propels a gondola, especially in Venice” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is spelled G-O-N-D-O-L-I-E-R and has 3 syllables, and it appears about once in every 14 million words in written English (wordfreq, 2021 data). The plural of gondolier is gondoliers.
What does gondolier mean?
noun
- 1
A boatperson who propels a gondola, especially in Venice.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you pronounce gondolier?
- UK /ˌɡɒndəˈlɪə(ɹ)/
- US /ˌɡɑndəˈlɪɹ/
Gondolier 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-gondolier.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of gondolier
- gondoliers plural
- gondoliere
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How common is gondolier?
Gondolier appears about once in every 14 million words in written English, the 114,361st 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).
Gondolier in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense Venetian boatman who propels a gondola:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | gondolier, gondolière |
| German | Gondoliere, Gondolier, Gondelfahrer, Gondelführer, Gondelschiffer, Gondelier |
| Portuguese | gondoleiro, gondoleira |
| Spanish | gondolero, gondolera |
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 gondolier come from?
From Italian gondoliere, through French gondolier. By surface analysis, gondola + -ier.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).